Remaining Yukon Many Rivers board members resign en masse

The five remaining board members ofMany Rivers Counselling and Support Services resigned en masse Thursday, and they said it's up to the Yukon government to look into the organization's financial discrepancies.

"I have a government that's hostile towards me," Jordan Aslett told a crowd of about 45 at a town hall held at Yukon College. Aslett was one of the five board members who resigned.

Many Rivers has experienced a year of troubles, including a strike by its employees.

The territorial government has stopped funding the organization until the organization explains several financial discrepancies, which were identified in a letter to the board from Stephen Samis, deputy minister of the territory's health department.

An investigation found several blown budgets and questionable payments including a 20.5 per cent wage increase for Many Rivers' executive director, as well as fees paid to the Paris School of Business for someone's doctorate program in business administration. Tuition for that three-year program is more than $46,000.

According to the letter, Many Rivers went way over budget in several areas, without offering an explanation or seeking approval from the government. In some cases, expenses were more than double what was budgeted.

No government 'oversight'

Twelve members joined the board for the first time on April 26, Aslett said, andmembers were committed to keeping the organization running until they received the letter.

"We had actually been told informally by Health and Social Services that the behaviour and the debts accrued by the previous board wouldn't impact our relationship with them, that they knew these were separate things," he said.

Aslett pointed out that Samis stated in the letter that board members have to take responsibility for their predecessors' actions.

"We can't be expected to account for something that happened while we weren't there, that we know nothing about," Aslett said. "You can imagine how disheartening this letter was."

This was done, in part, he said, "to turn attention away from the fact that the government has allowed this type of behaviour at Many Rivers to go on for years without any oversight whatsoever."

An interview request Friday for a health department representative wasn't immediately accommodated.

Uncertain future

Several attendees of the event saidthey want accountability.

Pursuing legal action against the person or people responsible for these disparities as a way of relieving that debt would have doubled the current debt, Aslett said.

"It's not our responsibility to do that, and the point of this was to turn it back onto [Deputy] Minister Samis and his department, and say this is your responsibility to look into because you funded it, you didn't watch it, and you're not gonna pin it on us," he said.

Aslett also noted that the organization is more than $200,000 in debt.Samis' letter refers to $519,368 in money owed.

When asked Friday if police are investigating or have investigated Many Rivers and/or one of its former executive directors, RCMP Staff Sgt. Jane Boissonneaultwrote in an email, "The RCMP cannot discuss whether a specific investigation exists or not."

The town hall was emotional at times for attendees.

Aslett began with the event with apologizing to former clients, employees, and volunteers of the organization.

"I came because I wanted to support the board. I feel like they've put a lot of effort into trying to, I guess, get Many Rivers to rise from the ashes. I mean, what a disaster," said Brandon Murdoch, a former clinical counsellor at Many Rivers.

She said she had about 25 clients when she worked for the organization.

Murdoch said she's not sure what the future has in store for the organization, which is about 50 years old.

When asked if anything positive came out of this saga, Murdoch said it might emphasize why sheand her colleagues went on strike.

"There was something really terribly wrong going on at the agency, and it needed to be outed," she said.

"I just hope that there's some form of justice. I hope there's some form of accountability and responsibility that does happen out of it. I'm unsure if that's gonna happen."