OTTAWA – New documents show at least two provincial Métis groups came under scrutiny after questions arose about their management and finances.
Audits of the British Columbia and Saskatchewan organizations have come to light as their national council is embroiled in a controversy over its own expenses that has bred animosity among its top leadership.
Both Métis groups insist they have since dealt with the issues raised in their audits.
The Aboriginal Affairs Department hired an outside consultant to look at the books of the Métis Nation Saskatchewan and the Métis Nation British Columbia.
The Canadian Press obtained copies of the two audits, both done in 2012 by Ottawa-based Hallux Consulting, under the Access to Information Act.
The Saskatchewan audit raised questions about executive compensation and travel, while the B.C. audit found apparent conflicts of interest and expenses that should have been ineligible for federal funding under the terms of their contribution agreements with the government.
Some of the findings of audits of Métis organizations in B.C., Saskatchewan:
- The Saskatchewan executive was paid 34 per cent more than required under the province’s labour standards;
- The former Saskatchewan treasurer received a $14,000 contract for the period of June 25 to Sept. 24, 2010. The statement of work “was not well defined,” the audit says. The treasurer also received $6,363 for the period of Sept. 25 to Oct. 31, 2010, for which there was no contract;
- Saskatchewan executives “rarely” took the most cost-effective means of travel, the audit says and consistently failed to document their reasons for travel. Métis Nation Saskatchewan president Robert Doucette says the executives did not always travel together out of concern there would be no one to fill in should something happen to all of them;
- Saskatchewan executives claimed meal costs when they were already receiving per diems;
- In B.C., children of four of the seven co-ordinators of an aboriginal job-training program applied for, and received, funding. One co-ordinator had her assistant sign the approval documents, while the other three signed the paperwork themselves;
- The B.C. group claimed for travel costs that didn’t fall under their funding agreements, donations to organizations it wanted to support, and goods and services for which there was no proof that they had been provided.
Source: March 2012 Audit of the Métis Nation Saskatchewan by Hallux Consulting; August 2012 Audit of the Métis Nation British Columbia by Hallux Consulting. Both audits obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
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