Last week, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau rolled out his plan to make the federal government more accountable. It’s a solid list of things that should happen: making Access To Information requests smoother, creating an open data portal, posting MP expenses, strengthening committees, allowing more free votes, ensuring independence of watchdogs, ending omnibus bills, banning partisan government ads, reforming the voting system, and more.

These are wonderful things, and I hope political parties of all stripes adopt them – and go further. 

But the Liberals are complete hypocrites on transparency. While they claim they want to open up government, they have pledged to put aboriginal government back into the shadows by repealing the First Nations Financial Transparency Act. From the Huffington Post:

"I wouldn't keep the legislation in place," Trudeau told the newspaper...

Jody Wilson-Raybould, the B.C. regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations who was acclaimed to run for the Liberals in the new riding of Vancouver-Granville, suggested before a Commons committee in 2012 the act was an attempt to interfere in how First Nations govern themselves.

"Chiefs were clear in their assertion that these proposed measures… are both heavy-handed and unnecessary, and they suggest that First Nations governments are corrupt and our leaders are not transparent and consequently need to be regulated by Ottawa," she said.

"It is not surprising that many of our chiefs have resented this approach and are turning the lens back on Canada, suggesting that it is Canada that needs to develop more stringent accountability frameworks for their governing bodies, that it is Canada that needs to be held more accountable for the treatment of First Nations."

Apparently what’s good for Ottawa isn’t good for aboriginal people. 

In B.C., the FNFTA has been an important tool for grassroots aboriginals. When Kwikwetlem First Nation Chief Ron Giesbrecht took home $914,249 in 2013/14, it was the FNFTA that revealed the massive payout. As Kwikwetlem’s Marvin Joe told the National Post, “If it wasn’t for this new transparency act, I don’t think we ever would have known.” Similarly, the new law exposed how four council members from the Shuswap First Nation had shared $4.1 million over four years from a band of 267 people. 

People deserve to know how their governments are being run - whether in Ottawa or on reserve. I hope the Liberals figure that out.