First Nations Financial Transparency Act

The First Nations Financial Transparency Act is an act of the Parliament of Canada relating to the financial disclosure of First Nations governments.^[1]

First Nations Financial Transparency Act
Parliament of Canada
Long title An Act to enhance the financial accountability and transparency of First Nations
Citation	S.C. 2013, c. 7
Assented to	2013-03-27
Legislative history
First reading	2011-11-23
Second reading	2012-06-21
Third reading	2012-11-27
First reading	2012-11-28
Second reading	2012-12-13
Third reading	2013-03-26
Status: In force

Background

The act was passed after a number of media stories reporting large salaries for certain First Nations chiefs and councillors.^[2]

Provisions

The act requires public disclosure of the salaries of chiefs and councillors.^[2]

The act requires First Nations to publicly disclose detailed financial audits.^[3]

Application

The act applied to most First Nations governments.^[1]

The act was controversial when it was being passed.^[1] In order to improve relations with First Nations governments, the Trudeau government stopped enforcement of the act, with a promise that the act would be replaced with something better.^[1][4] Most First Nations governments continued to disclose their accounts anyway.^[1]

Further developments

First Nations auditor general

The Assembly of First Nations has suggested that there should be a First Nations auditor general mandated to audit First Nations governments.^[5] In 2010, the Liberal Party supported such a measure in opposition.^[6] The Canadian Taxpayers Federation supported such a measure.^[4] The 2011 interim chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations supported such an appointment.^[7] Indigenous Services Canada was considering such an appointment in 2021,^[4] but to date no such appointment has been made.