I have written on several occasions...and I'd be happy to provide you with the publications, but first nations have an extremely dysfunctional governance system. It's hard to imagine anything more dysfunctional than what we have in Canada vis-à-vis this first nations governance system. It is highly dysfunctional.
When you look at this initiative in light of the masses of dysfunction, this is pretty modest. That's what I would say.
As one example, I don't know of any governance system that is highly performing that doesn't have some sort of tax relationship with its citizens. We do not have a tax relationship with our citizens in first nations country, with some exceptions. Some self-governments in the Yukon, for example, are moving into a tax relationship.
Unless you have a tax relationship between citizens and government, you're likely not to get very good accountability. It doesn't matter what you do. You can have all the transparency in the world, but I have never seen any state that has good accountability without that tax relationship.
When you look at countries that are dependent upon oil revenues or natural resource revenues, or even fiscal transfers from another country—from the central state—you're likely to get lousy governance from a whole series of dynamics that happen when you do not have a tax relationship.
That's why I say that this is modest. It's a step forward. I would support it. But when you look at the level of dysfunction in this governance system, this is small potatoes. It's what is called in English, “small beer”.