Sunday Supplement

More news from Métis land. I was given a letter that was sent to the MNC Board of Governors. I will try to scan and post the original document but it reads as follows:

House of Commons
Chambre Des Communes

February 25, 2008

Rod Bruinooge
Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South
Député de Winnipeg-Sud

Honorable Tony Clements
Minister of Health
Ottawa, ON

Dear Minister Clement,

I hope that you are well. It has come to my attention that there are very justifiable concerns regarding the use of health funding dollars previously provided to the Métis National Council in 2007. The concern results specifically from Health Canada dollars that were allocated to a company called Med Co in Alberta.

I would like to request that a forensic audit take place which will determine whether the public funding provided to the MNC for health services was in fact used for health purposes and in accord with the agreement.

Sincerely,


Rod Bruinooge
Parliamentary Secretary to
The Minister of Indian Affairs and
Northern Development

MNBC - Now for some other ideas – there has been much said about the MNBC – “Leave of Absence” from the Métis National Council. What exactly does that mean? I have confirmed one thing – there was a meeting that included the MNBC Board and the Chairs of the Community Councils who supported the position of taking the Leave of Absence.

I am not here to defend what they are doing because I am only guessing but here is what I have been able to find on the issues of the Health dollars in relation to them. Based on comments on some of the blogs the Métis youth of BC seemed to have been screwed over for their money that was committed and I did see that in the letter that BC released earlier in the week that they mention that MNC owes them $207,000 in the Human Resource Health Dollars. Based on the audit the agreement for MNBC was they were to received $270,154.00 and as of March 31, 2007 they had not received the money. (Just for curiosity this compares to the $976,122 that MMF received prior to March 31, 2007- have you in MB heard about $900,000 worth of health scholarships released?) Back to BC – so it may be that they received just over $ 63,000 which would have been the resources to advertise, promote and set up the capacity to deliver on the scholarship money and then once they set up the youth to get the money – MNC did not send it. I have not been told this but reviewing the letter and the audit – it makes you wonder.

The next question to explore is that the MNBC feel screwed over because Bruce did not get in as President of MNC. I have a few things that I want to share – first if that is the case – “Suck it Up!” You know they referred to the Métis as the “Flower People” and I always thought they were talking about the beautiful bead work and embroidery that our grandmothers did. I now know that our Métis politicians thought it meant a love fest as in “Flower Child” from the 1960’s. You all screwed each other – including BC when you thought putting your President up – as if he were the sacrificial lamb – was a great solution. Well it was – it guaranteed Clem’s success. Who screwed who first – for those of us sitting in the west waiting for you fools to mess up – we all hope you enjoyed your new sexual revolution – because the only thing you guaranteed was the end of MNC. It was time to clean house and fix the misrepresentation of our people. As long as Clem got elected it was almost assured that the Federal Government was not going to let everything be status quo. Now the house will be swept clean and the allegations can end – the truth can be what defines us. The community demands accountability and responsibility from their leaders – that is a good thing.

If MNBC has chosen to take leave because of the legal liability of the situation – maybe the other provincial organizations that have not had control of the finances over the past year and some – should consider their options too. But leave or no leave – I am sure that the finger pointing has not ended and there certainly will be enough blame to go around for everyone.