https://edmontonsun.com/news/local-news/alberta-premier-first-nations-separation-democracy
“In the same program, Smith said she will talk with her ministers about stricter financial reporting among First Nations as a criteria for provincial funding.

A caller named Diane asked for increased accountability among Alberta First Nations in the form of audited financial statements as a condition of provincial funding, and stronger federal enforcement of transparency requirements tying ongoing funding to the timely public disclosure of audit reports.

“Many Alberta First Nations are not publicly releasing annual financial audit reports, despite the requirement under the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, since enforcement ended in 2015 compliance has declined significantly,” Diane said. “The lack of transparency has led to legal actions, most notably in November 2025 Federal Court ruling involving Frog Lake, Alberta First Nations, where approximately $120 million and was reported unaccounted for, and the court affirmed community members’ rights to access financial records, setting a precedent for stronger accountability.”

Smith said she’ll look into the idea of requiring additional financial accountability of Alberta’s First Nations.

“It’s an interesting idea … I hadn’t considered that that would be our only lever, is to say we’ll only do business with those nations that are able to account for the dollars that we send to them,” she said.

Other provincial beneficiaries — non-profits, municipalities, health agencies and school boards — all have to tell the province how they spend provincial money to be accountable for taxpayer dollars, Smith said.