Funding Cuts on the Horizon – How will MNBC Cope?

(August 29, 2023) The federal Minister for Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), the main source of funding for Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) has confirmed that her department has to help in finding savings of $15 billion by the federal government in the current fiscal year. The spending cuts are real. ISC will be reducing their staff by about 1000 government employees this year and next to help save money.

Given that MNBC receives about $70 million to $80 million a year from the federal government there is a strong possibility that they will feel some effects as the federal government looks in every cupboard for the billions they need in savings. So how will this MNBC Board cope with this new funding challenge given that they have been spending money like it will never stop?

Here are just a few examples of what they have been spending money on:

• Hiring more staff to record levels at higher salaries than ever before – the number of MNBC staff now exceeds 200 (up from about 60 just 4 years ago)

• Increasing their own Board salaries by about 36% to the highest salary amounts ever

• Increased travel and expenses for the Board, including a tripling of travel expenses for the current President year over year

• Expanding the ministries and appointing associate ministers

• Spending millions of dollars on buying land in Surrey and in other areas of BC

• Spending several millions of dollars to hire consultants

• Spending more than an estimated $300,000 buying and retro-fitting new fancy vans to travel the province

So what happens when the current federal government or the one after it – maybe a Pierre Poilievre Conservative Government – begins to turn the money taps off? What will the MNBC Board do? How will they cope? Good questions.

BC Métis Leader and former MNBC President Clara Morin Dal Col says, “This MNBC Board only knows how to spend money and lots of it – tens of millions of dollars that I, along with two other Métis leaders at the national level negotiated with the federal government between 2017 and 2020. This group and the new MNC leadership have not negotiated a single new sub-accord of funding with the federal government since then.”

Ms. Morin Dal Col says, “Late last year MNBC, through a submission by MNC, asked for $147 million in new spending from the federal government for this year (in addition to the approximately $80 million that they are already receiving) and then in June MNBC asked the provincial government (through a Standing Committee) for $104 million next year, but yet this group has not posted a budget since 2022.” She asks, “Does this group know anything about fiscal responsibility and accountability?”

Ms. Morin Dal Col, who has announced that she will be seeking the Presidency of Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) in the 2024 election, says, ““In times like this you need a steady hand on fiscal management and you need to be prepared for any changes in funding coming in the future recognizing that our first responsibility is to help to look after the needs of our Citizens.”

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For further information:

Contact Clara Morin Dal Col

Candidate for MNBC President

Email: cmdalcol@gmail.com