CALIFORNIA TRAFFIC JAM The driver of a vehicle (right) honks the horn and drives within inches of this trio of male California bighorn sheep staking their territory along Sun Rivers Drive on the Thanksgiving long weekend. The resident sheep are busy “getting busy” this time of year, as was evident for the gawking motorists returning home. Dave Eagles/KTW
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KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK
Thursday, October 17, 2013 X Volume 26 No. 83 www.kamloopsthisweek.com X 30 cents at Newsstands
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AUDIT: $60K A YEAR FOR ONE DAY A WEEK Stories by Dale Bass STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
Two provincial-government audits on agencies that share an executive director have raised financial concerns. The investigations into the Metis Commission of Children and Families of B.C. and the White Buffalo Aboriginal and Metis Health Society noted both agencies, headed by Deb Canada, each provided the government with “inaccurate quarterly reports” in the past due to the accounting practices each followed. The audits were conducted by the accounting firm Grant Thornton LLP. They began in May and KTW accessed them through freedom-of-information requests. Requests to speak with Stephanie Cadieux, the province’s minister for children and family development, were unsuccessful but, in an email
response, Cadieux said concerns and allegations brought to her ministry led to both audits, which she described as rarely required. The audit into White Buffalo also notes it was taken on because the Ministry of Children and Family development “has concerns regarding White Buffalo’s financial reporting, its capacity to effectively manage its allotted funding and its contracting practices.” In its document itemizing all payments made greater than $25,000, the Ministry of Finance notes White Buffalo received $409,328 from the province during the 2012-2013 fiscal year, which ended March 31. The Metis Commission received $586,440 in the same period. The White Buffalo audit notes Canada works one day a week at the agency and received a sal-
Boards of agencies dispute audit findings The boards of two agencies audited for the provincial government are disputing the results. However, the Ministry for Children and Family Development (MCFD), which commissioned the audits, is standing by the results. Deb Canada, executive director of the Metis Commission of Children and Families in B.C. and, until a month ago, in the same position with the White Buffalo Aboriginal and Metis Health Commission, said the documents submitted by the Grant Thornton LLP accounting firm have mistakes throughout. Canada, who is now a contractor with the White Buffalo agency, said the boards have told the provincial government the single auditor who looked at both groups confused and misunderstood information. Mistakes in the Metis Commission audit were noted and addressed by the board, Canada said, but those in the documents on White Buffalo were such that the group didn’t feel they could be addressed individually. MCFD minister Stephanie Cadieux, in an email to KTW, said there were some inaccuracies in preliminary versions of the audits, but corrections were made and noted. X See DEB CANADA A2
ary of $60,000 in 2012 for that work. In 2009, she was paid $57,000. In 2010, she was paid $60,000. In 2011, she was paid $59,000. As executive director of the Metis Commission, where she works four days a week, Canada’s salary was $134,000 in 2012. In the years previous, it was $90,000 in 2009, $104,000 in 2010 and $123,000 in 2011. The audits of both agencies note discussions about salaries and benefits for Canada were done largely by emails that included Canada. The White Buffalo audit reports staff are required to record their hours, but the executive director did not and auditors found “no means to determine her day-to-day activities, what vacation entitlements she had taken and/or were unused or as a means to audit expense requirements.”
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It also noted that, unlike other staff members, Canada’s expense reports lacked the same degree of detail and had no authorization for payment by a board member. The audit singled out a janitorial contract that was not put out for tender. Instead, it was awarded to a specific individual for $6,500 a year. The name of the recipient is redacted in the audit, but KTW has learned the contract went to a family member of one of the staff. The audit notes the contractor does not report to Canada directly, but to the finance officer to avoid any “conflict of interest.” Auditors said there remains a perceived conflict of interest and that, should the finance officer have issues with the service provided, the officer might have concerns about raising them “without fear of any personal repercussions.”
Both audits note the agencies lacked qualified financial officers in past years, but that both now have someone filling the jobs with the appropriate skill set. Both audits also recommend zero-based budgeting be followed, so staff in each can identify their minimum service levels and wish lists for funding and make it easier to justify expenditures. Both audits also recommend funding be continued to the two agencies for this fiscal year, expiring March 31, 2014. However, both agencies are required to have a new budget process implemented and approved by the ministry this month. It is also recommended the ministry review each agency’s budgets every three months. Both documents also recommend the ministry continue to work with the agencies.
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