"What do you mean you can't find the records?" - Yikes!

Ron Evans










Audit Into Band Spending Ordered
By Paul Samyn
Winnipeg Free Press
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Page A9

OTTAWA - Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has ordered a forensic audit into $10 million in spending at Norway House under the watch of former Chief Ron Evans, who now heads up the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

Prentice's move comes after a formal request from current Chief Marcel Balfour and the Band as they attempt to get to the bottom of what they claim are unauthorized expenditures, missing funds and irregularities in past audits.

"The Minister has agreed to the request of the elected Chief and Council to conduct an audit," said Prentice spokesman Bill Rodgers.

"He takes the allegations very seriously and is committed to a full and fair review."

In making the request to Prentice, Balfour and the Band pointed to documents they say should raise red flags about the way the previous Chief and Council handled the finances at the northern reserve.

Among the concerns raised:

• a $2.1-million loan guarantee for a 22-unit housing project for which the Band can no longer find records.
• $4.6 million in compensation to the Band was recorded a year before the money was received to cover an apparent deficit. The money came from a $6.4-million payout under the Northern Flood Agreement.
• $3.4 million spent on construction of a treatment centre with Cross Lake First Nation that was appraised at only $1.7 million a year after it was built.
• a $250,000 difference between the reported and actual cost for the purchase of a medical receiving home in Winnipeg. The purchase agreement was signed by Evans.

In an interview, Evans said that as AMC Grand Chief, he suppports the actions of Norway House and its Band Council in seeking a forensic audit that will be paid for by Ottawa.

But as the former Norway House Chief, Evans insists he has nothing to worry about when it comes to the probe into spending he oversaw.

"As a former Chief, I have no reason to be concerned about it," Evans said. "I look forward to the findings as well."

The forensic audit potentially sets Balfour and Evans on yet another collision course in a ongoing nasty relationship that has already landed in the courts.

In 2006, a federal court judge ruled Evans engaged in blackmail and held secret meetings to try to stifle Balfour when he was a Councillor critical of Evans's leadership as the Chief of Norway House.

Balfour had gone to the court to argue he had been unfairly stripped of his portfolio and had his salary slashed by the Chief and Council after butting heads with them over how the reserve was run.

"This is a clear indication of influence-peddling and blackmail directed towards the applicant (Balfour). Such behaviour is deplorable and has no place in democratic institutions...," wrote Justice Pierre Blais.

Evans stepped down as Chief to take over the AMC in August 2005. Balfour was elected Norway House Chief in March 2006.

paul.samyn@freepress.mb.ca