The Chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council is calling for transparency and accountability from the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations.
“This is a tough day for First Nations people,” said STC Chief Mark Arcand at the beginning of a press conference in Saskatoon Friday morning.
This week, a forensic audit of the FSIN was publicly released, highlighting over $30 million in questionable financial activity. The audit was conducted by Indigenous Services Canada over a 5-year period from 2019-2024 and gives the FSIN several recommendations.
That audit is available here.
The FSIN has not yet made any public statements about the findings of the audit and some First Nation chiefs say they are having trouble getting answers as well.
The STC held a press conference in Saskatoon where Tribal Chief Mark Arcand and leaders from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, White Bear First Nation, Thunderchild First Nation and James Smith Cree Nation
addressed the situation. A former FSIN Vice-chief and councillors from some of these First Nations also addressed the reporters gathered at the press conference.
The Chiefs called on the FSIN to be transparent and accountable over the audit and to address First Nations across the province on what is happening.
“Start taking some responsibility. Start being honest with your people. Start talking to your people. Whether you did something right or something wrong, we have to address it,” said STC Chief Mark Arcand. “We’ve got to talk about the elephant in the room. And that elephant is the findings of $34 million. They were in charge. They are running this corporation. They have to take ownership of their position and their authorities. And they need to start talking to the people, because there’s people that are very, very concerned, and they should be. And there’s lots of reasons why.”
While Arcand would not levy any accusations of fraud or misappropriation he did say that money could have been used elsewhere as many First Nation people in this province are struggling. Arcand pointed to homelessness and Northern Saskatchewan wildfires as areas that could have used these funds.
“This is not good for our First Nations people,” said Arcand. “This is not good governance.”
Arcand is also concerned because he feels First Nation chiefs are being left in the dark about what may happen with FSIN funding heading into the future.
The other First Nations chiefs all called for transparency as well with a few of them calling for a complete governance overhaul of the FSIN and others not shying away from allegations of fraud.
While Arcand kept any allegations to himself Chief Kelly Wolfe of Muskeg Lake Cree Nation was not as coy with his words.
“Let’s make it clear, the decisions made by the executive with these financial transactions, they were not a mistake,” said Wolfe. “They were not a misunderstanding of funding agreements. These were well thought out plans, deceitful decisions, looking in the best interest of themselves.”
“FSIN should go back to their roots, which is to protect inherent Treaty rights,” added James Smith Cree Nation Kirby Constant. “Confidence in this leadership is gone.”
According to reports, the RCMP is not currently investigating any findings in the audit. Meanwhile, Indigenous Services Canada says they will be investigating the situation further.
In the meantime, the FSIN will be holding their chief’s assembly in Yorkton in later October.
The chief’s gathered at Friday morning’s press conference say they are hoping to get better answers from FSIN leaders sooner than that, but say it will be the number one priority at the upcoming assembly.