Looking into the finances at Manitoba’s First Nations

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/12/2014 (4250 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s First Nations still get most of their funding from the government, even though many are now operating successful business enterprises to boost their financial coffers. For the first time, the financial documents of Manitoba’s First Nations are all available in one place online, allowing us to get an idea of how they’re doing and how they’re being managed.

The First Nations Financial Transparency Act requires all First Nations in Canada to post their consolidated financial statements and the salaries of their elected officials online. The documents are available to the public on the federal government’s website. The government also has the power to withhold funding or take a First Nation to court to force them to disclose their documents.

While most Manitoba bands have complied with the law, 11 First Nations have not posted all their documents online yet. Some communities elsewhere in the country have said they will resist the law, seeing it as an intrusion into internal aboriginal affairs, and one First Nation is challenging the law in court.

The documents lay out the financial health of Manitoba’s First Nations, revealing the amount of debt they hold, how the money is spent and how various communities are turning to entrepreneurship to pad their budgets.

Some highlights from the documents:

Top First Nation economies

$97.7 million
Revenue for Peguis First Nation in 2013-14. Peguis, with its 9,761 members, is also Manitoba’s most indebted First Nation, with nearly $40 million in total liabilities.

Like most First Nations, the majority of Peguis’ revenues come from government-related funding. The First Nation’s major source of own-source revenue was from gaming, which brought in $4.5 million. Peguis operates video-lottery terminals about 180 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

$51.3 million
Revenue for Opaskwayak Cree Nation in 2013-14. The First Nation generated $10.4 million from internal sources like businesses and rent. Opaskwayak’s Chief Michael Constant is Manitoba’s highest paid chief, with a yearly salary of $130,325. The First Nation recorded a deficit of $3.35 million in 2013-14, and like Peguis, it is heavily indebted with total liabilities of about $25 million.

$49.36 million
Revenue for Sagkeeng First Nation in 2013-14. Sagkeeng registered significant revenue from a superstore in the community, that brought in $7 million. Sagkeeng is also home to one of very few remote Tim Hortons, which draws in customers from surrounding areas.

$43 million
Revenue for Tataskweyak Cree Nation in 2013-14.

$40.9 million
Revenue for St. Theresa Point First Nation 2013-14.

First Nations debt

$588 million
Total debt owed by Manitoba’s First Nations collectively. These are held in a combination of short-term bank loans and longer term loans and mortgages. Peguis is the most indebted band, while Tataskweyak Cree Nation with a registered population of 3,677 people holds $32.3 million in debt.

9
Manitoba First Nations with more than $20 million in debt.

$11.8 million
Average debt carried by Manitoba First Nations

Own source revenue

$133 million (approx.)
Revenues Manitoba’s First Nations generated from their own business interests, like resorts, casinos, rent and sales.

3
Manitoba First Nations generated more revenue internally than from government-related sources. They They were Brokenhead Ojibway Nation with 60 per cent of its revenues from internal sources, Buffalo Point, with 58 per cent and Rolling River with 52 per cent.

$13.2 million
Revenue Brokenhead Ojibway Nation generated from its various business interests, including an entertainment centre, video-lottery terminals, a restaurant and a handicrafts store. Brokenhead, north of Selkirk, has a registered population of 1,923 people.

$2.8 million
Revenue Buffalo Point First Nation brought in. The band, which has only 126 registered members, and a puny 34 people living on reserve, operates cottages, a resort and a golf course in a bid to draw in the holiday crowd.

Buffalo Point’s members have been in a dispute with the band’s Chief John Thunder, who is an unelected hereditary chief, saying he’s not sharing enough of the business revenue with the community. Thunder is the third highest paid Manitoba chief, with a yearly salary of $116,918 (which includes his income working for the band’s various businesses), despite overseeing one of the smallest reserves.

$28 million (approx.)
Revenues generated by various gambling enterprises run by First Nations, including casinos, gaming centres and video lottery terminals.