Three Alberta First Nations continue to defy FNFTA

Three Alberta First Nations are staying the course and refusing to file their full audited financial statements with the federal government.

As of Jan. 8, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Sawridge First Nation, and Onion Lake Cree Nation had posted neither their audited financial statements nor their Chiefs and councils remuneration and expenses in accordance to the First Nations Financial Transparency Act. As of Dec. 31, there were 34 non-complying First Nations. The federal government had extended the deadline for compliance by three months to Nov. 29.

Cold Lake First Nation had been late in posting its statements. However, by mid-December, one week after Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Minister Bernard Valcourt named CLFN as one of six First Nations the federal government would be taking action against, CLFN submitted the required paper work.

The delay was due to a combination of being “such a busy group” and requiring more time to separate funding from CLFN-run business entities and the federal government, says CLFN Chief Bernice Martial. However, CLFN ended up sending all its financial information to AANDC. According to the audited financial statement, federal dollars account for only 34 per cent of CLFN’s funding.

“We have nothing to hide,” said Martial. “We were going through some negotiations and that’s how come we really couldn’t sit down and talk about this.”

Martial, who also serves as Grand Chief for Treaty 6 Confederacy, says the decision to comply with the FNFTA is up to individual bands.

Eriel Deranger, spokesperson for Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, says as ACFN does not receive federal funding to operate, it will not be posting its audited financial statement nor its Chief and councils salaries on AANDC’s website.

“We do provide an audit to our members, the people we are accountable to,” she said.

Deranger says it has been three years since ACFN signed a contribution agreement with AANDC. Any federal dollars subsidizing health care, education and social services programs goes to the Athabasca Tribal Council. ACFN is a member of the ATC and money filters through ATC to ACFN members requiring those services.

In a statement issued by AANDC, Minister Bernard Valcourt said non-compliant First Nations would have their funding withheld for non-essential programs, services and activities, as well as new or proposal-based non-essential program funding, and “in the case of those First Nations who have indicated they have no intention of complying, seeking court orders to require publication” will also be action taken.

On Dec. 8, Valcourt named ACFN, Sawridge First Nation and Onion Lake Cree Nation as those that the government filed court action against.

In a statement posted on Sawridge First Nation’s website, the band said compliance with the FNFTA would violate the band’s constitution as well as earlier federal court decisions (1989 and upheld in 2009) confirming Sawridge’s financial statement is confidential. The band also noted that “members may also access the financial statements, audit report and budget at the First Nation Office on a confidential basis.”

OLCN initiated legal action prior to the federal government. OLCN filed a statement of claim in federal court in Edmonton on Nov. 26, claiming $50 million in punitive damages from Ottawa and challenging FNFTA.

“Because of the deadlines and the timeframes, we decided enough is enough. On behalf of our people, the Cree people of Onion Lake… the statement of claim was the last step in a long journey to get the federal government to sit and talk with the Nations,” said OLCN Chief Wallace Fox.

Fox says salaries for Chief and council, which is not covered through federal dollars, has been disclosed to membership.

Fox says OLCN can afford to challenge the government as the First Nation has its own-source revenue unlike many other reserves.

Deranger says ACFN is considering whether to join OLCN in legal action and is in conversation with other First Nations, who are also holding out.