“This money belongs to the people, to the grassroots people, and it’s there to make a difference in people’s lives.”
When Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand said that, it cut through the noise. It also named the test that matters: can communities see their money at work, in time to act if something’s off?
A forensic audit flagged $34 million in questionable spending at the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. Arcand called for emergency meetings and immediate transparency to restore credibility. That word (credibility) isn’t PR. It’s a policy variable. When trust falls, every dollar does less work.
Sound familiar in Australia?
Reporting on the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) raised concerns about former-CEO travel – around $73k between 2021 and 2023, including high‑cost flights such as a $20,800 Sydney–New York trip and $18,801 to Boston. Allegations were put, clarity was hard to get. That’s a signal problem, not a comms problem.
Fixes aren’t exotic: open books by default, travel policies with economy‑first settings, real‑time spend dashboards and community‑level oversight that can pause a bad habit before it becomes a scandal.
If the money is the people’s, the people shouldn’t have to lodge a GIPA request just to see where it went.
They should be able to click and view…
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