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Originally Posted by polak
Well considering that it's "free" money thats being "given" to them by the tax payer, I'd expect it to be stricter.
I want to know EXACTLY what it's being spent on.
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You can say that about money for any level of government, yet the requirements are much more strict in this instance. You can't even release a non-elected civil servant's salary in Quebec because it's deemed private information, but every single cent spent by First Nations governments as well as all of the financials relating to their businesses now have to be published for the general public.
Further, bands have a level of nominal independence, so you don't necessarily have the right to know "exactly" what it's being spent on nor the right to influence how it's spent any more than you do over a province or municipality you're not part of.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rerun
Perhaps it wouldn't be so onerous or even necessary if the system hadn't been abused so much in the past by so many.
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But is it really going to fix anything? People see provincial and municipal governments waste money all the time but nothing is done about it. What is this going to achieve other than wasting a bunch of time and money?
If this would realistically create a positive change I'd be all for it, but it seems poorly conceived and rooted more in ideology than practicality to me. Oversight and transparency is needed, but I don't see how drafting a law like this without any consultation of First Nations is a step in the right direction; all it seems to have done is create friction. Aboriginal rights and privileges are a very thorny and sticky issue and unilateral decisions by the federal government are rarely productive even they make sense to outside observers.