Band Council

In Canada, over 30% of First Nations have property tax powers and are responding to community needs and providing local services to thousands of property taxpayers. The First Nations Tax Commission (FNTC) is a shared-governance First Nation public institution that supports First Nation taxation under the First Nations Fiscal Management Act and under section 83 of the Indian Act.

This brochure describes what FNFA can do for your First Nation. To learn more about how the FNFA
works, how you can become a borrowing member.

The First Nations Finance Authority (FNFA) is a statutory not-for-profit organization without share capital, operating under the authority of the First Nations Fiscal Management Act, 2005. The FNFA’s purposes are to provide First Nations governments investment options and capital planning advice and—perhaps most importantly, access to long-term loans with preferable interest rates. The FNFA is not an agent of Her Majesty or a Crown corporation and is governed solely by the First Nations communities that join as Borrowing Members.

The Small Town P.R. Playbook is a fun, accessible tool that has been specifically designed for local government and First nations community administrators who aren’t professional communicators, but are faced with these issues and challenges every day. The Playbook showcases the innovative work underway in small communities across British Columbia.

To make sure that access to the First Nation’s information is managed, Council must create a policy for information systems used by the First Nation that follow the rules and standards below:

Having the proper controls around information management will support Council and the administration in maintaining the required levels of confidentiality and security of data.

Information management involves:

the gathering of information from one or more sources
the sorting and distributing of that information to those who need it
the management of that information through record keeping

Sample Document Retention Periods (DOCX)

Reporting to the First Nation on money paid to and money expensed by each Councillor is part of sound governance practices and reinforces Council’s accountability to its members. This report is to be completed yearly.

The FAL requires that Council create a policy on this that includes the steps for:

There are certain key tasks that need to get done in every First Nation. These involve managing the overall day-to-day operations of the First Nation that include specific tasks around finances and reporting.

The FAL requires that these be assigned to specific individuals to make sure that they get done.

Therefore Council must create a policy outlining the duties and roles of the First Nation’s officers which include the senior manager, the senior financial officer and the tax administrator (if the First Nation is collecting local revenues).

The Finance and Audit Committee policy must also include the steps for committee meetings, including that:

The FAL requires that a policy is created and followed that includes procedures around Finance and Audit Committee member appointment, eligibility, removal, replacement and substitution.

Sample Terms of Reference - 1 (DOCX)
Sample Terms of Reference - 2 (DOCX)
Sample FAC Member Financial Competency Guidelines (DOCX