Metis National Council fires director

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A struggle for financial control of the Metis National Council, which erupted early last month, has ended in the dismissal of one of the organization's regional directors.

Gerald Morin, leader of both the national council and the Saskatchewan Metis Nation, and Metis Nation of Alberta president Gerald Thom fired Pacific Metis Federation director, Norman Evans, Feb. 23 over what Morin called "administration and financial matters."

"It was necessary that we remove him as a director," Morin said.

Evans was not representing the interests of all the West Coast Metis organizations, he said.

Members from the Louis Riel Metis Association, the Vancouver Island Metis and the Kelly Lake Metis recommended during senate hearings in Vancouver last fall removing Evans for failing to represent them to the national council.

Evans said he was not given adequate notice of his dismissal as director and has consulted a lawyer.

Morin refused to give further details on the financial reasons behind the dismissal for fear of what he called "legal reprisals."

But a string of inter-office letters leaked to Windspeaker in mid-February indicate the organization is in a "serious deficit position."

The Feb. 7 letter to the Secretary of State Native Citizens Directorate head Roy Jacobs detailed honorarium expenses to MNC executives in excess of $105,000, which Evans, as a director of the council's secretariat, said he was not apprised of.

Another letter by Evans to council chief administrative officer Marc LeClair requested photocopies of all cheques issued to the MNC between April 1993 and January 1994, council credit card account statements and business expenses.

LeClair subsequently sent a letter to Evans Feb. 10 requesting a variety of expense receipts for the Pacific Metis Federation for the years 1991 to 1993. He also asked for all details of banking transactions, including receipts, deposit slips and bank statements for all MNC monies, especially those flowing through Evans' own West Coast law firm.

LeClair said the national council is currently $250,000 in debt, although estimates by other council members put that figure even higher.