Chief Wallace Fox of Onion Lake Cree Nation (C) address a gatheing of Natives leaders at a downtown hotel in Ottawa, January 10, 2013 to discuss the up coming meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Dave Chan for The Globe and Mail.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
Good news: The overwhelming majority of First Nations communities – 529 of 582 – have disclosed their financial statements, in accordance with Ottawa's new First Nations Financial Transparency Act. It means that nine out of 10 bands have followed the law, and in doing so, they are giving their citizens a better picture of how their governments are spending their money. In contrast, the roughly one in 10 bands that have not yet complied are keeping their own people in the dark – and risking the withholding of some payments from the federal government.
In its first year, the FNFTA has already had good effects on at least two reserves. In Kwikwetlem, B.C., residents learned about an $800,000 bonus to the chief. It may not have been improper, but it gave the community an opportunity to scrutinize its leadership. And in Shuswap First Nation, B.C., members were shocked at the large compensation awarded the chief and his former wife, who were defeated in the ensuing election.
This new level of transparency was ordered by the federal government. But its beneficiaries are the citizens of Canada's reserves, who are now armed with an empowering tool: knowledge about their own governments. The bright light points toward greater accountability. And no government, whether native or non-native, can thrive without accountability.
So far, the community most actively opposed to the FNFTA is Onion Lake Cree Nation of Alberta and Saskatchewan. It is a partner with oil and gas companies in 400 wells.
On Wednesday, Onion Lake filed a statement of claim against the Crown, saying, among other things, that the FNFTA is unconstitutional, evidently on the basis of the aboriginal and treaty rights section of the Constitution. In particular, Chief Wallace Fox says that this First Nation is entitled to keep its financial statements confidential, just like a private company.
But band councils are governments. They belong to the people they represent. Surely it is obvious that no Canadian government should be allowed to have secret financial statements, kept from its own citizens. Whether rich or poor, First Nations or otherwise, governments must be accountable.