MNBC continues to spend lots of money, including more than $350,000 on a fancy video

(May 11, 2025) Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) is going to pay a company $353,520 to produce an Indigenous Skills and Employment Training (ISET) video to “showcase success stories”. The Board of Directors approved the project with the big price tag at its Board meeting on March 25th.  The contract is with a company called Jelly Marketing, a company which MNBC has used before for image building and branding related services to the tune of $100,000.

 

Given that MNBC often runs out of ISET programming dollars before the end of the fiscal year, why would these dollars not be invested instead in more Métis students gaining assistance for education and skills development? Was the issuance of this $353,520 contract the result of a competitive bidding process? If it was, how many other bids did MNBC receive and in what amounts? If it wasn’t a competitive bid process, why wasn’t it? These public dollars are meant for the benefit of Métis citizens not for producing fancy videos.

 

Here’s the latest list of other big expenditures approved by MNBC that we know about:

 

• Métis Early Years Conference to be held sometime this Fall – Budget $200,000

• 2025 MNBC Annual General Meeting in Richmond – Budget $331,845

• Back to Batoche Festival (July) – Budget $92,000

• Back to Batoche Festival Sponsorship – Budget $10,000

Total = $633,845

 

You take $633,845 and add the cost of the PR video for ISETS at $353,520, and it totals $987,365…nearly $1,000,000. These are the expenditures we know about. What about the ones we don’t?

 

Former MNBC President Clara Morin DalCol calls the nearly $1,000,000 in expenditures excessive, especially the $353,365 on a fancy video, when most non-profit organizations are being very careful in spending money, not knowing what the new federal government will be cutting in their first budget.

 

Ms. Morin DalCol says, “This Board committed to spending nearly $1 million without having the slightest clue of whether the new federal government is going to be reducing their funding. This is not prudent nor responsible financial management. Mind you this is the same group that hasn’t posted an annual operating budget for the citizens in more than 3 years and also failed to present a Treasurer’s report to the last MNGA, so why would they care?”

 

Regarding the Board’s approval of $92,000 for the cost of attending the Back to Batoche event in Saskatchewan this coming July, Ms. Morin DalCol recalls that when she was MNBC President she rented a single trailer to stay in at Batoche and purchased salmon on the West Coast for less than $700 to feed some 500 elders at Batoche, but some members of the then Board were highly critical of such expenditures. Now they’re planning to spend more than $100,000 (including the $10,000 sponsorship) on the event and to this Board that kind of expenditure is not a problem. The former MNBC President calls that hypocrisy.

 

The minutes of the Board meeting don’t mention where the Board members will be staying while they’re attending Batoche, but like they’ve often done in the past, they will likely be staying in Saskatoon, some 90 kilometers to the south. And the probable hotel – the Bessborough at a rate of $250 per night. If all 12 Board members plan to attend Batoche and stay in Saskatoon for the 4 nights, the accommodation bill will be $12,000, plus taxes, and per diems and transportation. The minutes don’t say whether the $12,000+ is already included in the $92,000 budget or if it is in addition to that budget.

 

Ms. Morin DalCol who is now the President of Red River Métis British Columbia invites MNBC Citizens who are disgusted and appalled with MNBC’s lack of fiscal management and accountability, to join Red River Métis British Columbia, a grassroots organization based in British Columbia for true Métis. You can apply for membership by clicking on https://www.presidentclara.com/get-involved

 

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For further information:

Contact Clara Morin DalCol

President – Red River Métis – British Columbia

Email: cmdalcol@gmail.com