First Nations granted stays against government's transparency law

First Nations fighting the federal government’s financial transparency law are celebrating a victory.

A decision by the by Federal Court of Canada on Friday has ordered the government to back off legal efforts to force bands to make their audited financial statements public.

Onion Lake and four other bands refused to comply with the First Nations Financial Transparency Act saying it violated both treaty and aboriginal rights.

The federal government took the bands to court and withheld non-essential funding until they complied. During a hearing in August the bands successfully argued for a stay.

The court ruling stopped short of ordering the government to reinstate those funds, however in a release Onion Lake Chief Okimaw Wallace Fox said the ruling left the door open for future court challenges.