MCA enacts Financial Administration Law

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By Shawna O'Neill
MCA enacts Financial Administration Law
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AKWESASNE – After six years of striving to develop an Akwesasne Financial Administration Law (AFAL), the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) passed a resolution to enact an AFAL that will come into effect at the beginning of 2020.

“The resolution establishes the enactment date of the law as the date the resolution is administered, with the coming into force date effective Jan. 1, 2020. This will provide time for administration to develop the required policies,
regulations and procedures needed to administer the law,” read an MCA press release.

Members of the MCA met on Saturday, Aug. 24 and held a secret ballot voting period, which yielded 79 votes in favour of approving an AFAL with two votes against the motion.

“Moving forward, the AFAL will allow us to have the structure and written guidelines needed to effectively manage the operations of the MCA organization with the bar for transparency set very high,” said MCA Executive Director Heather Phillips. “We are thankful for the community’s participation and direction.”

In 2013, the MCA established a working task group to develop an AFAL. The group developed a law that showed strong financial administration which established strong accounting standards. On Sept. 21, 2016, Mohawk Council Resolution 2016/2017-#224 accepted the proposed AFAL, initiating the Akwesasne Justice Department to conduct Phase III of the Akwesasne Legislative Enactment Regulation. In February of this year, the Akwesasne Justice Department began consulting the community through information meetings and accepting written submissions through April.

“Comments from the consultation process were summarized, discussed and the agreed upon changes were incorporated into a new draft of the AFAL. On June 13, the MCA accepted the AFAL in principle for community enactment by way of a secret ballot vote…community notice was provided that the Special General Meeting would occur on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 10 a.m.,” read an MCA press release, further explaining the AFAL timeline.

The AFAL will be registered in the Akwesasne Law Registry and be posted on the MCA website.

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