The taxpayer, a status Indian, operated an office furniture business and office supply business through two corporations with headquarters on a reserve but most of their activities and all their customers off reserve. A substantial part of the businesses' revenue came from the federal Aboriginal Business Procurement Policy ("ABPP"), whose purpose was to increase the participation of Aboriginal business in the procurement process by encouraging or requiring federal departments and agencies to grant contracts to Aboriginal businesses. The taxpayer argued that his management fees were "Indian moneys," which by operation of s. 90(1) would (he argued) make the management fees exempt under s. 87. D'Auray J found that the corporate revenue was not Indian moneys. She stated (at para. 99):
The ABPP is a Treasury Board policy that encourages federal departments and agencies to participate in the development of Aboriginal businesses by purchasing from these businesses. There is no mention in this policy that moneys had been voted by Parliament for the purposes of the ABPP. [Therefore, we can assume] that the amounts used to purchase the furniture and supplies from the Aboriginal businesses were amounts that were part of the "existing" budget envelope of these departments and agencies.
In any event, the funds were not Indian moneys in the hands of the corporations when they paid them to the taxpayer as management fees. The corporate structure could not be ignored (para. 100).