MNS Practice Reviewd by Government

Friday, September 23, 2011 at 14:19

 

 

The Metis Nation – Saskatchewan is releasing two reviews done by the Aboriginal Affairs department.

 

One is a general assessment and the other is a review of management practice and financial controls.

 

The first assessment labels the MNS as a high-risk organization when it comes to governance, planning, financial and program management.

 

MNS President Robert Doucette says he is not concerned by this assessment, as he says changes have already been made.

 

Director of Operations Dazawray Landrie says there have been changes to internal management policies such as developing an accounts payable policy as well as a credit card policy and a tendering service policy.

 

The second assessment suggested the organization restructure its boundaries, perhaps cutting the number of regions by as much as half.

 

Doucette says there are definitely issues with boundaries that need to be looked at because some regions have 12,000 people while others have 1,000.

 

He notes the Dene Metis would like to have their own region as well.

 

Doucette says the MNS has sent its response to these reviews and is hoping for a meeting with Aboriginal Affairs in October.

 

A date has not yet been set for the next Metis Nation Legislative Assembly, but the next Annual General Assembly is November 5th.

 

Doucette likens these reviews to a report card, and says the MNS hasn’t received a failing grade but rather a C or B-.

 

However, Area Director Helene Johnson says the review could have gone further and says she has a concern about a lack of information being shared with the provincial Metis council and not sharing it in a timely manner.

 

Johnson was one of the area directors who refused to attend an audit committee meeting earlier this week, saying three hours wasn’t long enough to deal with the matter.

 

She was also one of the area directors who didn’t attend a provincial Metis council meeting called earlier this week, a date that Doucette said was set by citizens who attended a special assembly in August.

 

Johnson says that Assembly was illegal and not binding.