25 October 2015

ONION LAKE CREE NATION PLEASED WITH JUDGES DECISION TO STAY C27

(Onion Lake Cree Nation, Treaty 6 Territory). Okimaw Wallace Fox and the Onion Lake Council

were very pleased to receive the federal court decision granting a stay against the Minister of Indian

Affairs’ legal action in regards to C27 (First Nations Financial Transparency Act) that intended to force

the First Nation to post its Consolidated Audit on the World Wide Web. This decision of the Judge was

based on the hearing held, August 19-20, 2015, where Onion Lake made an application to have the

Minister’s action stayed so as not to prejudice Onion Lake’s own litigation in Federal court in the near

future.

“Our Nation does not believe that the legislation is valid – it violates our Peoples’ right of privacy and

interferes with our rights as we stated in our action filed in November 2014,” said Okimaw Fox who

further stated, “The Minister’s decision to go to court bringing his own action against Onion Lake and

four other First Nations in December 2014 to force the disclosure was an attempt to prejudice the Onion

Lake action.”

The Federal Court granted the stay citing at paragraph 30 of the decision, “the Attorney General does not

hold a monopoly over the public interest solely on the strength of the enforcement of legislative

compliance.” The Judge cited a Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision writing, where the “‘public

interest’ includes both the concerns of society generally and the particular interests of identifiable

groups.”

“While Onion Lake did not get an order for the release of our halted ‘non-essential dollars’ and the

Ministerial Loan Guarantee (MLG) needed for building safe and affordable social housing comparable to

standards of other Canadians, we are encouraged by the Judge’s decision in paragraph 40,” stated

Okimaw Fox. Paragraph 40 of the decision reads:

The Crown’s failure to consult before withholding further funding from the Respondents is

therefore, likely to be considered in the face of the evidence showing non-compliance injury to

the band members going forward.

In light of the Court’s decision to stay the Minister’s application and the Minister’s action to unilaterally

withhold non-essential monies from a Contribution Agreement that has been in place since 2011, Onion

Lake is calling on the government of Canada in a show of good faith to release the non-essential monies

and the MLG as soon as possible. Otherwise, Justice Barnes left the door open to seek relief as Onion

Lake goes forward with the court challenge to C27.

Media Contact: Janice Makokis

C: (780) 915-0310

E: janice.makokis@gmail.com

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