According to reports, there's a small committee that's been quietly working on a transfer plan, that if it's successful will be the "single most significant thing the Trudeau government will have done for its oft-promised 'reset' of the relationship between the Crown and First Nations." AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde said to be on committee.
OTTAWA, ON-There is a plan in the works that is going to transform the way the Canadian government deals with Indigenous peoples. If things go according to hopes and planning, it will mean big changes to the way Ottawa transfers funds to the country's 634 First Nations.
According to reports, there's a small committee of federal politicians and Indigenous leaders who have been quietly working on this transfer plan. If it's successful it will be the "single most significant thing the Trudeau government will have done for its oft-promised 'reset' of the relationship between the Crown and First Nations." That's according to David Akin of the National Post.
"This is going to be a monumental change in terms of what happens in Canada," Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Perry Bellegarde stated in an interview. "People are sometimes wary of change but I think this will be in the best interest of Canada as a whole."
According to the AFN chief, there are three objectives of this "transformative" work. First, it's to find a way to provide each First Nation with sufficient funding. Second, to make that funding predictable so that each First Nation can make more effective use of its resources. And third, to build appropriate accountability mechanisms for both Canada and First Nations.
According to Akin, this committee's work promises to "transform a federal bureaucracy long set in the way it delivers services to all Canadians, ways that have been recently criticized by the Auditor General Michael Ferguson for being too concerned with itself and indifferent to improving the lives of its citizens.
The report cautions that perhaps First Nations will have to do a lot of work to prepare for this new future. According to a National Post analysis of the 2014-2015 financial statements filed by 559 First Nations that complied with the First Nations Financial Transparency Act found that 172 of them posted financial statements that violated generally accepted public sector accounting standards. Some of these violations were relatively minor while others were serious enough that the band's auditors were unable to provide an opinion about the accuracy of the financial statement.
According to Akin, the committee is made up of just four people. Grand Chief Bellegarde and Dacid Kimmie, chief of the Squiala First Nation in British Columbia, represent the AFN. Indigenous Affairs Minister, Carolyn Bennett, has been a constant member for the federal government but has been unable to identify who is the fourth committee member and second person representing the federal government. The AFN hopes that it will be a "senior person" from either finance or the Treasury Board.
