Province Pulls Funding to Metis Nation

Province Pulls Funding to Metis Nation

Friday, June 18, 2004 at 15:09

The province’s Aboriginal Affairs minister is defending the government’s decision to withdraw funding from the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan.

The decision to withhold about 400-thousand dollars in operating grants to the MNS was announced yesterday over concerns about the recent Metis election.

Maynard Sonntag says this isn’t the first time a Metis election has been engulfed in controversy, and that’s part of the reason he felt the province had to do something.

MNS president-elect Dwayne Roth is critical of the government’s move, and says the province has no business interfering in the afffairs of the Metis.

Roth also accuses the government of taking sides on this issue, and says neither he nor the MNS was consulted before the decision was made.

Sonntag is scheduled to sit down with Roth and other MNS officials on Tuesday to discuss what needs to be done to restore the organization’s funding.

In the meantime, Sonntag admits it’s likely the federal government will follow the province’s lead and halt its funding to the MNS — which amounts to 285-thousand dollars annually.