So what exactly is MNBC doing with $12.5 million?

(December 5, 2025) Earlier this year, Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) signed an agreement worth $12.5 million with the federal government under the 2 billion tree program but it was never officially announced by MNBC and there are very few details about exactly how many trees MNBC is going to plant.

 

The 2 billion tree program was announced by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2019 federal election campaign. The initial plan was to plant 1 billion trees across Canada over ten years, but that was doubled to 2 billion trees with a budget of $3.2 billion over the ten years of the program. In the last federal budget in November, the new federal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the program would be ending and the uncommitted monies moved to other government priorities.

 

So how will MNBC spend the $12.5 million between now and March of 2031? We don’t really know because MNBC has never announced the $12.5 million agreement which in itself is very strange. What we do know is that in late July of this year the MNBC Board approved entering into a sole source vendor agreement (that’s when there is no competitive bid process) with a company by the name of Veritree Technology Inc. in the amount of $7.5 million. According to Board minutes from July 28th, the company Veritree “…has technological advantages over other companies.” But that’s about all we know.

 

Here’s some questions about this whole project:

 

• What will Veritree do for the $7.5 million? Do they actually plant trees?

• Is Veritree a Métis-owned company?

• Why did the MNBC Board choose to sole source the contract instead of going through a competitive bid process?

• If the company does plant trees how many Métis will actually be employed?

• What is MNBC doing with the other $5 million? Will they actually plant trees, and if so how many Métis will be employed?

• Where are the trees going to be planted?

• How will Métis chartered communities benefit?

• How much of the $12.5 million is going to be used for administrative purposes to pay for more staff at the Surrey Office? $1.2 million? $1.8 million?

 

Former MNBC President Clara Morin DalCol says, “Too often funding agreements benefit others instead of our own Métis people. The Board minutes reference this project as an opportunity in building relationships with First Nations, including the Fort Nelson First Nation. Hold on a minute! A number of First Nations in British Columbia are already being funded through multi-million dollar agreements under the 2 billion tree program, so why would our funds not be used for employing our own Métis people on Métis projects and helping our Métis communities?”

 

She says, “MNBC needs to be open and transparent with a multi-million dollar project like this. Here they have a $12.5 million agreement that was signed in February but no announcement was ever posted. Now why would that be? Maybe they don’t have enough staff to draft an announcement. Or maybe they were afraid of being asked how many Métis people will actually be employed as a result of this project and they don’t know. Or maybe it will only be staff at head office who will be working on this project.”

 

Ms. Morin DalCol says, “At the end of the day, it will be interesting to see how many trees actually get planted with the $12.5 million in public funds. We won’t hold our breath.”

 

MNBC has lost its way. They are no longer the organization they once were. Come on board with Red River Métis British Columbia. We are the grassroots Métis organization with elected leadership totally committed to improving the lives of our true Métis people in British Columbia. We work on the issues that matter to our members through strong and effective advocacy work with governments.  

 

Join Red River Métis British Columbia today 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