[ShepherdsDog]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ ... audit.html

$1:

Members of the Roseau River First Nation are demanding a police investigation after a federal audit report raised serious concerns about the southern Manitoba band's finances.

The forensic audit has found that millions of dollars at Roseau River may have been misused or misspent.

Records are missing or destroyed, and there may have been conflicts of interest, according to the audit.

For example, the federal government gave the First Nation $191,000 to repair the local church and cemetery, but the renovations were never done.

Auditors found most of that funding was not spent on repairs, but they couldn't determine where the money went.

Many of the concerns raised in the forensic audit stem from Terry Nelson's time as chief.

Terry 'Do you expect me to sandbag' Nelson...nothing more really needs to be said.

[jeff744]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/12/15/mb-roseau-river-first-nation-audit.html

$1:

Members of the Roseau River First Nation are demanding a police investigation after a federal audit report raised serious concerns about the southern Manitoba band's finances.

The forensic audit has found that millions of dollars at Roseau River may have been misused or misspent.

Records are missing or destroyed, and there may have been conflicts of interest, according to the audit.

For example, the federal government gave the First Nation $191,000 to repair the local church and cemetery, but the renovations were never done.

Auditors found most of that funding was not spent on repairs, but they couldn't determine where the money went.

Terry 'Do you expect me to sandbag' Nelson...nothing more really needs to be said.

And yet they manage to act surprised and offended when we ask where 90 million went.

[BeaverFever]

jeff744 jeff744:

And yet they manage to act surprised and offended when we ask where 90 million went.

Different Band, different Nation, different Province, different treaty, different history. You should really try to not judge one group of people based on the actions of another...that leads to bad things.

[jeff744]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

jeff744 jeff744:

And yet they manage to act surprised and offended when we ask where 90 million went.

Different Band, different Nation, different Province, different treaty, different history. You should really try to not judge one group of people based on the actions of another...that leads to bad things.

And yet money went missing....again.

[Thanos]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

jeff744 jeff744:

And yet they manage to act surprised and offended when we ask where 90 million went.

Different Band, different Nation, different Province, different treaty, different history, same disgusting results......

Accuratized that one for ya. No thanks please, I do these things for the sake of enlightenment.

[BeaverFever]

Not really the same results at all actually. I don't think the Rousseau River Reserve is in nearly as bad shape as Attawapiskat and so far there hasn't been any allegations that Attawapiskat's finances were misappropriated the same way as Rousseau.

Attawapiskat had a small housing and infrastructure budget surplus last year and people are asking how it was spent, but that's not the same thing at all. There's not evidence of wrong-doing like in Rousseau.

[jeff744]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Not really the same results at all actually. I don't think the Rousseau River Reserve is in nearly as bad shape as Attawapiskat and so far there hasn't been any allegations that Attawapiskat's finances were misappropriated the same way as Rousseau.

Attawapiskat had a small housing and infrastructure budget surplus last year and people are asking how it was spent, but that's not the same thing at all. There's not evidence of wrong-doing like in Rousseau.

That's because they refuse to let anyone look at the books to find the obvious systematic corruption in Atta. 90 million is a lot to lose when your population lives in mold infested shacks, even a blindfolded idiot with their nose plugged could find it.

[BeaverFever]

I haven't seen any evidence that "they're afraid to let anyone look at the books". They file audited financial statements, and that's where the inquiry arose from.

Their resistance to a having a private company run the town is not the same as resistance to an audit. FYI - When Gull Bay First Nation was run by a Third Party Manager (Ernst and Young), the Reserve's debt doubled. Most of that debt was payable to the Federal Government (who was giving the funding) and when Ernst and Young asked for some of the debt to be forgiven, the Feds refused.

And Atta didn't "lose" 90 million. That figure is just the total amount of funding over the past recent years, not an amount that is unaccounted for. As mentioned already, Atta had a housing and infrastructure budget SURPLUS of $3 million just last year.

Like Gull Bay, much of Atta's debt is payable back to the Federal government so a lot of that funding money gets repaid to the government with interest.

[Freakinoldguy]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Not really the same results at all actually. I don't think the Rousseau River Reserve is in nearly as bad shape as Attawapiskat and so far there hasn't been any allegations that Attawapiskat's finances were misappropriated the same way as Rousseau.

Attawapiskat had a small housing and infrastructure budget surplus last year and people are asking how it was spent, but that's not the same thing at all. There's not evidence of wrong-doing like in Rousseau.

Didn't we discuss this in another thread?

There are definately some accusations. Albiet not from the Federal Government but from band members themselves and if I was a betting man I'd put my money on the band members being right about missapropriation of money rather than the Chief, Band Counsel and their apologists.

$1:

Shisheesh and band elder Louis Sutherland, 73, called a community meeting Tuesday to discuss whether they would bypass Spence and meet with Jacques Marion - the government-appointed third-party financial manager who Spence ousted from the community Monday.

Sutherland's wife Martha - who translated for him - said the chief and council have been mismanaging government funding, taking money for themselves and favouring their own family members.

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cana ... le/1461854

I guess we'll just have to wait to find out if Attawapiskat is actually like Rousseau River or if it's just some disgruntled band members with a bone to pick?

[BeaverFever]

Yeah, the accusations of theft aren't as strong in Atta. Secondly, even if the chief is stealing something, it'd be peanuts compared to the band's debt and financial shortfall; that can't be whats causing the housing crisis. That would be like saying the national debt is caused by Harper stealing.

[jeff744]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Yeah, the accusations of theft aren't as strong in Atta. Secondly, even if the chief is stealing something, it'd be peanuts compared to the band's debt and financial shortfall; that can't be whats causing the housing crisis. That would be like saying the national debt is caused by Harper stealing.

There is more than one way to redirect money to where it doesn't belong and it might as well be called stealing. Somehow they maintain an administration budgets several times that of nearby towns larger than them and yet they live in conditions that rival the 3rd world.

90 million is a huge amount of money for a town that uses grid roads.

[andyt]

All bands should be audited all the time - it should be SOP. Same with anybody else that gets govt money.

[Freakinoldguy]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Yeah, the accusations of theft aren't as strong in Atta. Secondly, even if the chief is stealing something, it'd be peanuts compared to the band's debt and financial shortfall; that can't be whats causing the housing crisis. That would be like saying the national debt is caused by Harper stealing.

I don't think that the amount is the issue. If you steal a penny or a billion dollars a theft's still a theft and you can't really justify it because it isn't the entire budget for the village.

If there's theft or the misappropriation of monies destined for the community then somethings got to be done about it or the next thing you know the Chiefs and Band Councils will start thinking they're politicians.

[Curtman]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

jeff744 jeff744:

And yet they manage to act surprised and offended when we ask where 90 million went.

Different Band, different Nation, different Province, different treaty, different history. You should really try to not judge one group of people based on the actions of another...that leads to bad things.

Hey! We're trying to have a witch hunt here!

[Curtman]

jeff744 jeff744:

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

Not really the same results at all actually. I don't think the Rousseau River Reserve is in nearly as bad shape as Attawapiskat and so far there hasn't been any allegations that Attawapiskat's finances were misappropriated the same way as Rousseau.

Attawapiskat had a small housing and infrastructure budget surplus last year and people are asking how it was spent, but that's not the same thing at all. There's not evidence of wrong-doing like in Rousseau.

That's because they refuse to let anyone look at the books to find the obvious systematic corruption in Atta. 90 million is a lot to lose when your population lives in mold infested shacks, even a blindfolded idiot with their nose plugged could find it.

90 million is a lot, but its a worthless figure without some context. Over what timeframe? A week? A year? 5 years? Since the beginning of time?