Indian Affairs Admits Mistake in Funding Figures

Indian Affairs Admits Mistake in Funding Figures

Thursday, December 04, 2003 at 12:57

Indian Affairs admits its contribution to the Lac La Ronge Indian Band’s arena project is actually 500-thousand dollars lower than how it was reported yesterday.

The department had initially announced it was providing 833-thousand dollars of the total 1.6-million-dollar price tag.

But when band officials challenged the department’s figures, Indian Affairs investigated the situation and found it had made an error in calculating its contribution.

Department spokesman Trevor Sutter says the federal contribution is actually 300-thousand dollars.

He says the department’s calculation of its share of the funding included surpluses in federal transfer money that the band had saved up, which Sutter says should actually be counted as band money.

Construction on the arena is expected to get underway in the spring.