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At least one First Nation says that’s an unnecessary and wasteful structure.

“Whenever possible there should be direct transfer between bands and government, because we’re short in every area imaginable when we are looking at service delivery to our people and every little bit counts,” said Chief Byron Louis of the Okanagan Indian Band.

“You start taking off a percentage for administration, rent, insurance and for every other thing it takes to set up an office, and that money could be spent in the communities providing some type of service.

“For me that’s the bottom line. To try and get as much as we can back to our members because they are the ones that hurt the most.”

The Opposition B.C. Liberalstried to amend the bill to cut out the limited partnership. But Attorney General David Eby rallied the NDP-Green MLAs to reject the change.

“There’s a benefit in having First Nations administer their own funds for themselves. It’s an opportunity for capacity-building,” said Eby. “Yeah, zero administration costs are fantastic, but they don’t exist. So if government is administering, it’s going to cost money. If the limited partnership is administering, it’s going to cost money.”

Eby said the structure was set after consultation with the First Nations Gaming Commission — the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, the B.C. Assembly of First Nations and the First Nations Leadership Summit

Chief Louis said if rank-and-file chiefs and councils were asked, they would likely have supported direct payment from government.