(September 5, 2025) The Board of Directors of Métis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) has failed to post the minutes of their regular Board of Directors meetings for the past three months. The minutes for regular Board meetings in June, July and August are all missing from the MNBC website. Where’s the transparency? Why the secrecy?
For a non-profit organization that claims to be a government and that claims to represent the interests of thousands of Métis in British Columbia, failure to post the minutes of Board meetings in a timely fashion is an appalling and inexcusable lack of good governance. How do MNBC Citizens know what decisions are being made at Board meetings? How do MNBC Citizens hold the directors of the non-profit organization accountable for decisions that they are making, if they don’t know what decisions are being made?
On August 18, 2025, the Executive Committee of the Board suspended the President of MNBC after the Committee said they had “…received complaints about behaviour inconsistent with our policies and the public also brought information forward to the Executive for consideration”. Article 25 of the MNBC Constitution states (in part) that such a suspension can only be decided by a majority vote of the members of the Board of Directors. MNBC has not provided to its citizens any details of such a vote and they have also failed to reveal what behaviour or policies were the subject of the complaints. The citizens have a right to know this very basic information. Where’s the transparency?
Earlier this year, on May 29, 2025 the Board of Directors approved a budget for fiscal year 2025/26 but not a single number, including the total amount of proposed expenditures has been revealed to MNBC Citizens. Why the secrecy? Where’s the transparency?
This non-profit organization receives tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars each year (this fiscal year probably as much as $110,000,000) but yet MNBC has not posted an operating budget for its citizens to see since April 2022. Given the lack of transparency citizens have no idea how many millions of dollars MNBC is spending on staff salaries or on consultants or lawyers or on other costly items. Where’s the transparency?
Former MNBC President Clara Morin DalCol asks, “Why the secrecy and lack of transparency? What are they afraid of?” She says, “All non-profit organizations have a responsibility to be open and transparent so that their members know what is going on, and can question any and all decisions (including financial expenditures). That is what accountability is all about.”
“To action my belief in the importance of openness and transparency, I had actually proposed live-streaming Board meetings when I was still the President of MNBC but that met resistance from the other Board members of the day, many of whom are still there”, said Ms. Morin DalCol.
If you are tired of how MNBC operates, you really do have an option. Ms. Morin DalCol – the President of Red River Métis British Columbia invites true Métis to join our grassroots organization which is focused on improving the lives of our true Métis people in British Columbia. Red River Métis British Columbia works 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
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