How to finance a nation? Treaty funding is a start, but Tla’amin Nation will soon need to generate revenue. In part two of a three-part series, Janet May from Powell River Diversity Initiative outlines the financial foundation of Tla’amin.
Tla’amin Nation chief negotiator Roy Francis distinctly remembers one of his community’s key questions during the treaty process.
“‘Will there be enough funding to look after all our needs going forward?’ It took me a long time to figure out that it’s not about how much money is in the package,” said Francis, “it’s more about what we plan to do with it.”
The Tla’amin treaty, which takes effect April 5, includes a Capital Transfer Fund (CTF) of approximately $30 million to be paid in equal instalments over the next 10 years.
After deducting loan payments for money lent by the Canadian government, the annual net payment will be about $2.4 million. In addition, Canada and BC will pay $0.6 million annually for 50 years, for Resource Revenue Sharing (RRS) on Tla’amin traditional territory.
Tla’amin’s future success depends on how those funds are managed and the nation has spent years preparing finance systems to manage the money for community programming costs and savings.
The CTF and RRS payments are meant to be saved and invested for the future in a trust called Qamɛs ʔəms Tala, which means “our money is put away safely.”
“The CTF was discussed very intensely throughout the community,” said Francis. “Our plan is to set it aside and invest the interest back into the trust and have it grow over years. We have recruited Tla’amin members who have completed accredited training, and who will serve as trustees.”
A one-time payment of $6.9 million is intended to support economic opportunities, and Tla’amin will receive payments dedicated to three specific initiatives: fish stewardship, purchase of a communal fishing vessel, and support for culture and language.
Financial accountability and conflict of interest are also important issues for Tla’amin. At the first sitting of the Tla’amin legislature, two of the first laws to be passed will be the finance and administration law and the conflict of interest law. Tla’amin has been acting under a finance and administration law since 2013 when it achieved compliance approval from the First Nations Financial Management Board.
“We have an unpreceden ed level of financial management,” said Francis. “The law builds requirements for a finance and audit committee and annual budgets that get presented to our legislative body. The finance stream of lawmaking is about establishing transparency and accountability for how funds are managed and used.”
Tla’amin band councillor Dillon Johnson said the nation has been more strict on spending in the last five years.
“Our financial laws have had a number of revisions and we have involved the community along the way. It is exciting,” said Johnson. “I think everybody is nervous in some way. I go back and forth on it, but overall we are in good shape.”
Francis is convinced his community will be better served under the new regime.
“In the lead-up to treaty there were fears that Tla’amin would be losing funding for housing, health services and education. But those fears were unfounded,” said Francis. “The treaty provides for the continuation of funding for those services that is healthier and more secure than it was prior to the treaty agreement.”
Tla’amin is responsible for delivering health, education and social services to its people. Under the Indian Act, which will be dissolved for Tla’amin when treaty takes effect April 5, service funding was provided on an annual basis.
Post-treaty, Canada and BC will negotiate five-year blocks of funding to Tla’amin, giving the nation more flexibility.
Canada expects this Fiscal Financing Agreement (FFA) funding will decrease as Tla’amin builds up its economic strength, however Tla’amin sees things differently.
“Canada’s approach is that as we inject more money, they claw back money. But that doesn’t work for us,” said Francis. “Canada looks at the agreed-upon level of services and their view is that it is sufficient for our needs. Our position is that we want to build up money in order to provide better services for our nation.”
Rather than offsetting FFA payments, Francis said the role of Tla’amin business is to focus on building a solid economy for the nation and improve services and opportunities for citizens.
“We are working on the ability of our corporations to benefit our citizens directly as opposed to our government,” he said. “Our corporations will provide jobs for Tla’amin individuals, and provide bursaries for Tla’amin students who want to go to university. Our businesses can provide dividends directly to Tla’amin shareholders. We see our corporate teams making a tremendous difference for our nation.”
Tla’amin has been a taxation authority, collecting property taxes for 20 years. After April 5, Tla’amin taxation authority will expand to include the collection of sales and income tax from everyone living on Tla’amin land.
“The property tax rates are meant to be comparable with what they would be in the city or the regional district,” said Francis. “We will invite representation from our leaseholders so they will have a voice in taxation laws and in setting the rates that apply on our lands.”
With 70 km of waterfront property on Tla’amin lands, there is plenty of room to expand residential leases.
“Our focus is drawing high-income earning families into living on Tla’amin lands,” said Francis. “If you calculate what that would generate in land leases and compare that to what we would generate in income taxes, the income taxes outweigh land taxes by a huge margin.”
Tla’amin citizens will pay taxes to their nation after a number of years from treaty implementation: sales tax after eight years and property and income taxes after 12 years. Tla’amin citizens will also own their houses and land for the first time, with a special condition that limits property transfer to Tla’amin citizens only.
Things are changing quickly right up to the April 5 treaty-effective date, which is coming up very quickly, said Johnson.
“We will still have lots to do after the effective date, but we have benefited from the sharing of work and learned lessons from other treaty nations,” he said, “and as a result we are further ahead than we
would be otherwise.”
Francis said he sees Tla’amin as a big part of the larger Powell River community in the future.
“I like the excellent relationships that we have with City of Powell River and Powell River Regional District. We share some common thoughts about growth, and I see Tla’amin as being a leader in developing businesses in the Powell River area,” said Francis. “Powell River’s economy is hurting now. We see [other regions] thriving while we are asleep. I don’t want to be asleep anymore."
