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From Derek.Nepinak Facebook page

First Nations transparency act by Derek Nepinak - July 28, 2014

For many generations now we have been under the oppression of the Indian Act system, with a complete disregard for the development or sustainability of our own forms of governance and the resources needed to flourish as communities of people with our governments intact. To empower our forms of governance is to recognize the inherent and treaty right of self-government for our people and no government is prepared to do that under the colonial model that Canada is using against us. The transparency act is another colonial control tool, nothing more.

Everyone values transparency and accountability in structured relationships. Particularly when it comes to government. This current federal government has no accountability, nor transparency in how it operates. There is a great hypocrisy in all of this. While popular government actors of the day in Ottawa pretend to occupy a moral high ground when it comes to spending, Stephen Harper's own appointments to the Senate have been charged w Criminal Code infractions. This government wasn't even willing to tell Canadians the approximate $ deficit in education investment that has accumulated since the funding cap was put in place decades ago.. Meanwhile, our communities face a mountain of reporting and red-tape to satisfy bureaucrats in a very imbalanced relationship. We are already the most accountable and transparent segment of federal contribution funding recipients using the canadian dollar.!!

I appreciate transparency from my community chief just as much as the next person. The issue with the transparency act however is beyond the apparent hypocrisy and the paternal means used to bring another level of control over our communities. The issue is in the fact that they are converting the resources in our ancestral lands to their benefit and using the tax revenues from Canadians to push their termination and assimilation agenda. By promoting a constant state of conflict in our communities around access to minimal resources in the form of contribution funding agreements, the bureaucrats and political actors are able to keep our communities occupied enough to ensure that no one ever becomes aware of what is really happening....Meanwhile the wealth of our lands is reaped in the hands of a few, while we face continued poverty and loss of life.

In addition, the transparency act is going to require communities to disclose their economic development ventures in broader markets, thereby giving the Indian act officials a discretion to deny applications for assistance from communities seeking access to program and service resources. If a community is demonstrating retained earnings or 'profits' in their business ventures, the Indian act officials will start denying applications or applying 'own source revenues' criteria to successful communities who are moving beyond the dependency on the government dollars. In this way, colonial governments will still control the community, even where communities begin breaking free from the bonds of dependency on contribution funding agreements. This is where the challenge will come from though, as the Indian act minister is beyond his authority to try and meddle in the private business affairs of a first nation.. In law, this is referred to as ultra vires the Minister... This is where the legal challenge can be made..

The sad part of all of this is that it will cost communities extensive resources to protect rights that everyone in Canada already enjoys when it comes to participation in private economic or business ventures. By the time a finding in court is had that Mr. Harpers government has overstepped its boundaries with respect to the power of the Indian act minister, many communities will face the unfair and imbalanced controlling mechanisms of this latest colonial piece of legislation.....