By Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
The fate of Grand Chief David Harper and a forensic audit into Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak’s books remained uncertain following a shortened meeting by the organization’s chiefs executive council Thursday.
Chiefs on the executive council met for only 45 minutes Thursday afternoon and failed to deal with the forensic audit or Harper’s tenuous hold on the position of grand chief. Harper chaired the meeting.
God’s Lake First Nation Chief Gilbert Andrews said several of the chiefs left early and the meeting lost quorum before they could deal with the files.
“Grand Chief Harper is still holding on. He is still holding on, but I don’t know how much confidence chiefs have in him, but he seems to have his little group,” said Andrews.
During an MKO assembly meeting in Norway House last week, chiefs passed a resolution calling for a full forensic audit into the organization’s books. The resolution also gave Harper an ultimatum to voluntarily step down during the audit or face a non-confidence vote at the next meeting in September.
Harper chose to hold onto power, but MKO now faces a request from auditing firm Lazer Grant to put the grand chief on paid temporary leave. The firm said he poses a potential threat to the audit.
Harper is facing allegations of financial mismanagement and of using MKO funds for personal purchases like guitars, flights for his girlfriend and car repairs. Harper has said he paid back all his personal expenses.
Chiefs called for the forensic audit to get a clear picture of the organization’s books.
Andrews said the audit’s status is now unclear after one of Harper’s supporters, Norway House Chief Ron Evans, sent a letter to Lazer Grant Tuesday asking the firm to halt its work until the result of Thursday’s meeting.
“I am advising you to place any further actions on hold,” wrote Evans.
The Harper-chaired meeting, however, failed to deal with the issue.
Andrews said he plans to contact Lazer Grant directly, because he doesn’t believe Evans has any authority over the auditors.
“I don’t think much of what Evans wrote. For me, he can’t do that on his own,” said Andrews. “The process is being derailed, held up. I just want to give Lazer Grant the opportunity to go through what they have to go through.”
Andrews’ position is backed by Manto Sipi Cree Nation Chief Michael Yellowback, who has the lead on the forensic audit file. Yellowback wrote a letter to Evans on Wednesday saying the Norway House chief did not have any authority to issue direction to Lazer Grant.
“I regard this as meddling and interfering in an audit that was sanctioned by the MKO executive council and the chiefs-in-assembly,” wrote Yellowback. “One chief cannot alter or stop an audit from proceeding…I want to stress the MKO executive council cannot overturn the chiefs-in-assembly direction with respect to the resolution to extend the audit.”
Yellowback said it’s disappointing Harper is ignoring the will of the chiefs.
“It is unfortunate the grand chief is going against the assembly resolution that was passed by a majority fo chiefs and proxies at last week’s general assembly in Norway House,” said Yellowback, in an emailed statement.
Andrews said the executive may meet again at the end of August, but the situation remains murky.
Thursday’s chiefs executive council meeting was scheduled for 1 p.m. in Winnipeg. Andrews said the timing of the meeting was poor because it coincided with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs gathering happening at the same time in the same city. The AMC chiefs reelected Derek Nepinak as grand chief this week.
Andrews said the meeting started shortly after 2 p.m. and ended 45 minutes later because several chiefs said they had to go.
Harper also left the audit issue off the draft agenda.
Harper will now almost certainly face a non-confidence vote in September during MKO’s next general assembly, said Andrews.
“He took that option,” he said. “It was my hope that he would do the right thing, but apparently he has decided he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Harper could not be reached for comment.
In an interview with APTN National News Wednesday, Evans said he wasn’t trying to stop the audit, but that chiefs need to make sure the organization will not put itself into a problematic legal situation before plunging ahead.
“I think the audit should happen, but I think the process and the manner needs to be clearly defined as to how we move forward on that,” said Evans. “There’s a way to do things and there’s a way that will get us into trouble and it’s always a good thing to try and if you’re going to do something, do it right.”
Evans has faced his own controversy over the handling of funds while he was grand chief of the AMC.
APTN National News reported last June that under the leadership of Evans, AMC drained a charity created for First Nation education by using it as a piggy bank to cover its debts. As a result, the Canada Revenue Agency revoked the charitable status for The First Nations Education Trust Fund which was set up to finance bursaries for First Nation students and promote education around issues like treaties
MKO’s financial situation, however, appears to be far worse.
Documents obtained by APTN National News show MKO was warned by auditor Bernie Shore that the federal Aboriginal Affairs department could put the organization into co-management or third –party management if it didn’t get its spending under control, especially around travel and consultants.
MKO’s accumulated deficit for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2013, hit $976, 025. MKO also accumulated an operating deficit of $609,058 by March 31, 2013, which was a 71 per cent increase over the previous year’s operating deficit of $356,108.
MKO, which received a denial of opinion from Shore because the organization lacked proper accounting of its spending, was also warned to include a paper trail around its credit card use.
Harper has also been accused of obstructing the forensic audit, which has been unfolding since last year. He denied obstructing the audit. Harper has also faced criticism over his plan to sell clan membership to sponsors as a way to raise money for the AFN election which MKO is hosting in Winnipeg this December.
@JorgeBarrera
Maybe it’s the name? LOL