Walpole Island First Nation resident takes leadership to court for 'transparency'

Steven “Talking Bear” Amaro alleges the First Nations Financial Transparency Act (FNFTA) has not been met by the Chief and Council of Walpole Island First Nation (WIFN).

“We want self government but we want checks and balances as well,” Amaro said Tuesday, following the first court hearing into his lawsuit. “We can't have autonomy if we have a governance that is closed to the public.”

The FNFTA, enacted in 2013, requires all 581 First Nations in Canada to make their audited consolidated financial statements, a schedule of remuneration and expenses of the chief and council publicly available and posted on a website.

Amaro alleges the details currently available on the federal government’s website aren’t the whole picture.

He believes they do not include details about the corporations on the island including the gas station, port authority and ferry service.

“We've asked repeatedly (for the documents),” Amaro said “And we're always met with the same responses that they're doing an audit but it's such a mess that they cannot provide or publish these documents. And we find that unacceptable.”

Emails to Chief Dan Miskokomon and Governance Manager Faye Johnson have not been returned.

In a virtual court hearing Tuesday, Matthew Kim, lawyer for WIFN asked for an adjournment of the proceedings so they could work on a response.

“The council’s finances were in a bit of disarray when the new council was formed,” Kim told Justice Martha Cook. “They (chief and council) have every single intention of biding by the FTA and will comply with the requirements under that statute in due course.”

In granting the adjournment, Justice Martha Cook included a detailed timeline in her order.

It requires both parties to work quickly in order to argue the case on Oct. 24.

This is not the first case of a resident taking its First Nation leadership to court over financial transparency.

In 2017, Charmaine Stick successfully argued for a court order forcing the leaders of Onion Lake Cree Nation to publish their financial documents online.

And, according to the National Post, members of the Stoney Nakoda First Nation recently filed a similar suit.

“If they didn't go through this process and allowed the pretext for this to unfold, I would have never approached the courts and have the framework or the format in order to make my motion and that's how I did it,” said Amaro.