While most First Nations continue to comply with Stephen Harper’s controversial financial transparency law, a National Post analysis has found the compliance rate sharply dropped after Justin Trudeau’s government dropped a key enforcement mechanism.
As a result of the Trudeau government’s rule change, some bureaucrats are worried they won’t be able to properly account for and administer the billions of dollars transferred each year to the country’s First Nations.
Moreover, the Post has learned that the drop in the compliance rate to 85 per cent this year from 92 per cent in Harper’s last year may be the fault of the federal government itself which, in some instances at least, may have failed to live up to its obligations under the First Nations Financial Transparency Act (FNFTA).
FAKE NEWS ALERT !!
While most First Nations continue to comply with Stephen Harper’s controversial financial transparency law, a National Post analysis has found the compliance rate sharply dropped after Justin Trudeau’s government dropped a key enforcement mechanism.
Whenever the EDITORIAL page interferes with a NEWS story … I consider it to be FAKE NEWS. In this instance, dropping the word “controversial” into the NEWS about First Nations non-compliance rate in meeting the financial transparency laws. Who has determined that financial transparency for recipients of tax dollars is “controversial”? The story never explains WHO claims the transparency law is “controversial” or why? Therefore, this entire story is FAKE NEWS … and the story FAILS to explain the reason or motivation for First Nations NOT reporting on the use of their taxpayer largesse.
This non-compliance reminds me of Obama’s $ 1.7 Trillion dollar stimulus. The Obama Admin promised financial transparency for the spending of this massive$$$$$ amount of taxpayer dollars. After a couple of early accountings which showed embarrassingly few jobs were actually created with this liberal,leftist slush fund … shhhhhh … no more accounting was ever given or reported-on by the lapdog leftist press.
This story also reminds me of International food and money aid to Africa. Eventually … it was reported that virtually ALL African aid went into the pockets of War Lords and corrupt political leaders. Huh ? Could it be the Chiefs don’t want to have the public see that they are just like corrupt African War Lords who STEAL all the aid money for themselves … and leave their tribe starving (and begging for more tax dollars)?
The Spawn is just being consistent by being fiscally irresponsible with taxpayer’s money regardless of which racially favoured group is on the receiving end. Ignoring the laws demonstrates that he is every bit as enlightened as Obama who was admired by Canadians more than Americans. Anyone questioning the Spawn is a racist. The Indian industry, an article of faith, must go on! And when it comes to pandering, no one beats the good old LPC.
Whoa there Kenji! When PMSH introduced the FNFTA it met with a load of controversy from critics who thought that FN shouldn’t have to post their financial results. Essentially, just about anything PMSH did met with controversy as the left wing media was wont to do.
Second, because this was an news story i.e, Fact: “Reporting compliance drops etc, etc” and not an op-ed, reasons for the drop should not be presented unless known. One can infer that because sanctions for non-compliance were dropped after the 2015 election, some communities opted not to comply with the FNFTA. But the correspondent, David Akin, alluded to the fact that it wasn’t clear why the drop occurred because some FNs who appeared to be in non-compliance stated that they had submitted their financials.
Maybe its time that all Canadians refuse to do their income tax at the end of the year and Judge Barnes will throw it out of court if the Feds have a problem with it.
OK … perhaps I blew a blood vessel prematurely … however I must insist that using editorial descriptors such as “controversial” is a one-way street for so-called journalists. For example … Obamakare was NEVER described as “controversial” by the MSM … unless they were mocking the “controversy” by saying Republicans want AIDS patients to DIE by blocking Obamakkare. The MSM is a fraud.
There should be NOTHING “controversial” about rules of Accounting for how taxpayer funds are spent. If the Chiefs believe they “deserve” the white man’s wampum … then, they can use a white man’s ledger and account for its use.
“The National Post reviewed all the filings published online by INAC for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2016 and found that, of the approximately 580 First Nations required to file financial documents, 496 had done so as of Jan. 2, 2017. That represents a compliance rate of about 85 per cent.”
Down by a mere 7% from the Harper days. Which means 84 Bands have some financial facts they wish to hide.
I just love how the Band spokesmen always play the “innocent aboriginal not conversant with the White Man’s mysterious ways” when questioned by the media,and they in their racism of low expectations, swallow it whole.
“Gee,I’m sure we must have filed,I think we did that last Summer”, implies “but then I’m just a gentle Native living off the land and innocent of all these confusing Shama’s laws”.
Yep, and often the Innocent Native has a degree in accounting from a respectable university, and knows that if he stalls long enough,the White Man will go away and leave them alone to carry on with Indian bookkeeping.
Threatening to cut off funds does not work. Cut off funds — that should get some compliance.
Cool down all. The FNTA is just about posting band financials on the band’s own internet website and on AANDC’s website. Without that – and before FNTA – all bands were – and still are – providing their annual audited financial statements to AANDC (that’s the prior ministry of Indian Affairs). That is a requirement under the annual ‘block’ funding agreements or ‘set’ funding that all bands have with AANDC. The bands are *still* providing that information to AANDC (not doing that has always meant – and still means – immediate withholds). Again: AANDC already got all 630+ audited financial statements before, and still gets them, to account for all AANDC monies and Health Canada monies received. No breakdown in compliance and accountability as Kate portrays.
So if all this information has always been supplied to AANDC and all these bands have been dutifully accounting for monies received from the Canadian Taxpayer, why do we still see Reserves that are practically unlivable. The only way to describe some of these places is squalor induced by either abject mismanagement or felonious financial manoeuvers.
This is of course the same National Post whose writers actively and enthusiastically ran Harper out of town.
Like most media they are absolute hypocrites.
The story is still useful, but just as Canada desperately needs a better Prime Minister we also desperately need better media.
squalor induced by either abject mismanagement or felonious financial manoeuvers.
or both…
Even if audited financial statements have been provided as you say, it is the job of the auditors to ensure that generally accepted accounting principals have been adhered to. Debits equal credits. Assets acquired are not treated as expenses and must be depreciated over a set period of time. Income and expenses are properly classified and so on and so forth. It is not the job of the auditor to pass judgment on how the money was spent, just that it was accounted for correctly. If the chief wishes to pay himself (or herself) an outrageous salary or dish out honorariums to relatives so long is it is properly accounted for, nothing will be done. I would imagine that the audited financial statements are sitting in a big pile collecting dust in Ottawa.
@biffjr – You’re right, the auditors don’t pass judgment on how the amounts were spent (efficiently or not). But this article was about whether they were compliant and accountible or not. Bands were and still are, even without enforceability of the 1 pager piece of legislation that is FNTCA.
Now as to your suggestion that chiefs are paying themselves big salaries: I remember a massive ‘dud’ after the first year of FNTC being enacted: the Canadian tax payer federation was wildly suggesting beforehand that FNTA would show many overpayments. But in reality there were indeed overpayments (even some outrageous ones), but it became evident based on knowing ‘all’ financial statements that this was overwhelmingly NOT the case. A massive letdown for the CTF who was so expecting to find that most bands were overpaying its councils. In fact, if you make a bell curve of the amounts showing all the 630+ ‘schedule of honoraria of elected officials’, you would find that a small percentage is overpaid/outrageous, the vast majority is mediocre/average, and a minority is even paid ludicrously low. Not unlike other levels of government or business. Again – massive fail of CTF. They just didn’t get the results they were hoping for. But of course… that didn’t land up in the news.
Instead we have Kate still hyping things up.
Yeah, facts suck.