A review of questionable financial practices by an aboriginal child welfare agency is expected to be finished within a few weeks.
The Cree Nation Child and Family Caring Agency is under investigation by Ottawa and the province for "unacceptable" travel expenses and a $30,000 van bought for the agency's director.
Family Services and Housing Minister Gord Mackintosh dropped the bombshell Thursday at the legislature after Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen brandished documents showing the agency had severe cash flow problems and suspended staff travel in January of last year. That's despite the fact the agency's social workers had hundreds of kids in foster care all over northwestern Manitoba.
To pre-empt more questions, Mackintosh made public a letter from Indian and Northern Affairs that outlines the issues that prompted the review, which began last summer. They include:
Too many out-of-province staff and board retreats to places like Niagara Falls and Kelowna, especially for a non-profit agency whose money should be used for child welfare. Also, honoraria and travel per diems for board members and staff needed review.
A $30,0000 van bought for executive director Linda Constant in lieu of salary increases over the next three years. "This is quite generous when compared with the current salary scale of the executive director position," wrote INAC investigators.
A number of staff at the agency who are related to Constant. Some began working there before Constant was hired, but fair hiring process must be followed for all jobs, wrote INAC.
$2,000 a month paid by the child welfare agency to the Swampy Cree Tribal Council for services that could not be justified.
"I am out of my skin," said Mackintosh of the allegations. "I am very concerned about some of the allegations that have been raised and the job now of this outside investigation is to determine whether any of these allegations are true or not."
Mackintosh could not say how much money might have been misspent but said there has been a long history of issues within the agency, which was formed before devolution.
The Cree Nation child welfare agency covers the province's northwestern corner, including Thompson, Flin Flon and seven First Nations. Last year, it had 439 kids in care, 711 open files and a foster-care budget of about $5.8 million. Its board is appointed by the Swampy Cree Tribal Council.
The review of the Cree Nation agency is the latest scandal to hit the province's child welfare system, which was already critically understaffed and problem-plagued before the NDP government mandated devolution. That's the process of turning over control of child welfare to four authorities -- one for northern First Nations, one for southern First Nations, one for Métis and one for all others.
In recent years, there have been some tragic deaths of kids in care, including two-year-old Gage Guimond, who was killed last July after being removed from a safe foster family and sent to live, along with his sister, first to his grandmother and then to a great-aunt, even though social workers knew the grandmother had addictions issues and the great-aunt had a criminal record.
This is the third review Cree Nation has faced. Northern Authority spokeswoman Rhonda Gordon Powers said the authority was considering dismantling the Cree Nation board and suspending its executive director. She said there were also issues surrounding the licensing of some foster homes.
"We're just lucky that nothing serious has happened yet," she said Wednesday. "They can't keep functioning this way. There are things that are out of control."
Constant, the agency's director since 2005, referred calls to the agency's lawyer, Lore Mirwaldt, who said nothing untoward has occurred under Constant's tenure. The retreats and conferences attended by staff and board members were legitimate and useful, and Constant has not received a raise in the last three years and is among the lowest-paid child welfare directors in the province. She wanted to forgo future raises for the van since she travels all over the north for her job.
And, the scrutiny by INAC and the province has identified areas of underfunding that the parties are all working to fix.
"At no time has there been any hint at all of financial wrongdoing," said Mirwaldt.
One former Cree Nation staffer said the province has taken too long to respond to the issues at the agency. Speaking on condition of anonymity, she said the Cree Nation agency has lost about 50 workers in the three years since Constant took over and staff tried to bring concerns to the board and then the Northern Authority, with little result. Finally, last July, they wrote directly to the province and INAC. They warned of "a clear pattern of misuse and mismanagement of public funds, patronage, nepotism and a chronic failure to provide basic service delivery according to established standards."
Mackintosh said the review should be complete in the next several weeks.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
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