All Posts Tagged With: "First Nations University of Canada"

Women who stole more than $21,000 from the university admits to gambling problem

In the ongoing saga that is the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC), a former employee who stole more than $21,000 to feed a gambling problem was given a conditional sentence this week from a Regina judge. A fraud charge was dropped in exchange for the woman’s guilty plea.

A former clerk in the finance department, Janet Kurtz, 44, was charged in 2008 after an RCMP investigation into suspicious financial activity. It was discovered that between August 2004 and June 2005, Kurtz falsified records of travel and other monetary advances of eight employees. The records did not include receipts for expenses, and when the other employees were confronted on the matter, they said they were never issued the advances in question.

Kurtz took stress leave in August 2005, when FNUC was undergoing a financial audit. She officially quit in October after working at the institution for 10 years, and has since relocated to Toronto. Her lawyer told the judge that “She does acknowledge that she had a gambling problem.” Kurtz has been handed a 15 month conditional sentence that includes 240 hours of community service, and orders to repay the money she stole.

Officials work to pay off mounting debt after government cutbacks

The First Nations University announced Monday it will be putting its original Saskatoon campus up for sale immediately as part of major financial cutbacks to keep the university afloat.

The announcement was made by university president Shauneen Pete to a packed classroom on the campus and broadcast to students and faculty at the Prince Albert and Regina campuses, the Regina Leader-Post reported.

Pete also announced cutbacks in staff and faculty at all three of the school’s campuses. The Leader-Post said Pete, in a brief interview, would not confirm how many people were being let go. “It had grown too big, at this point. What we need to focus back to our purpose and our mission, which is the quality programming for first nations peoples,” the Globe and Mail reported.

Students attending the Saskatoon campus will be allowed to complete their classes up to August 31, but Pete said the school will be sold as soon as a buyer is found, so students won’t be returning this fall. The cutbacks and closures come after the federal and provincial governments announced in February they would be pulling more than $12 million in funding, citing governance issues and growing debt.

Officials have been working to rectify the situation in order to keep the campuses afloat. Since their original decision, the provincial government has reinstated their $5.2 million funding portion, but the federal government has only restored $3 million thus far with no promises of future funding. The Saskatoon campus was originally built in 1976, first named the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College. The main campus is now situated in Regina, with Saskatchewan and Prince Albert acting as the satellite campuses.

Only the federal government stands in the way of bringing university back from the brink

Canadian academics are no longer being encouraged to boycott First Nations University, after the Canadian Association of University Teachers lifted its censure Friday Morning. Delegates to a national meeting of CAUT voted unanimously to lift its censure against the institution that was imposed 17 months ago. CAUT initially censured the institution due to a failure to implement governance reforms, and because of ongoing threats to academic freedom.

Over the past two months, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations has made what CAUT says are “enormous changes that have addressed concerns about the university’s governance structure.”

Before the reforms were implemented, both the provincial and federal governments pulled financial support for FNuniv. The province eventually restored its portion of the funding after the university entered into an agreement with the University of Regina, that would see the latter oversee FNuniv’s finances. The federal government has yet to announce it will restore its funding, but has provided FNuniv with $3 million so that students currently registered may complete the academic year in August.

CAUT says it is imperative that the federal government reinstate grants for the university. “We were once one of the loudest voices in the country when it came to demanding changes at the institution — those changes have been made, so we’ve lifted censure, and it is time for the federal government to do its part,” executive director James Turk said.

Canada’s only Aboriginal university may face insolvency by end of the month

Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl says that the federal government will not restore funding to First Nations University despite significant changes made to the institution. Supporters of the university met with Strahl in Ottawa on Thursday to plead their case.

“I did meet with the First Nations University delegation today,” Strahl told the House of Commons. “I repeated our position that the current funding formula for First Nations University ends as of March 31.” Teachers, students and Aboriginal leaders who met with Stahl said that he turned down their request for the federal government to reinstate $7.2 million in federal funding.

First Nations University (FNU) has been facing an uncertain future since January when the government of Saskachewan threatened to cut off funding because of financial irregularities and governance problems. In early February the provincial government announced it would no longer provide $5.2 million in annual funding starting this April. “For years, there has been uncertainty swirling around this institution. Instead of getting better, frankly most recently we’ve seen the intensification of that trouble,” Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris told reporters after the decision was made at a provincial cabinet meeting.

FNU has been under a cloud of controversy for five years. There have been ongoing issues with the way the school is managed and allegations of financial irregularities. A wrongful dismissal suit filed by Murray Westerlund, a former financial officer at the university who was fired in December 2009, alleges there were questionable travel expenses and paid vacation time. A financial audit has been ordered and is to be completed this month.

Since February, university administrators and Aboriginal leaders have been scrambling to propose a solution that would allow students to continue studying at FNU after the April cutoff. The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations met Monday to discuss recommendations. On Tuesday they handed management of the school’s finances over to the University of Regina and a new management plan was adopted. But, judging by Stahl’s response, the changes came too little too late.

The Saskatchewan government’s position is less clear. Norris congratulated those involved in proposing the changes but made no promises about provincial funding.

FNU may face insolvency by the end of the month unless either government steps up to provide emergency funding. The federal Liberal and NDP opposition parties called for the Conservatives to reinstate funding. Stahl committed to helping Aboriginal students directly, but would not budge on the government’s decision to cut off funds to the institution.

FNU’s financial and governance problems have plagued the university for years. In September 2008 the school announced a deficit of $1.2 million, marking the second year in a row the school was more than $1 million in the red. The announcement came as a surprise as FNU had previously estimated a $100,000 deficit that year.

The year before FNU was put on probation by the Association of Universities and Colleges Canada (AUCC) after allegations that the school wasn’t operating independently of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. AUCC cited concerns about the university’s independence, institutional autonomy, and academic freedom.

The concerns were linked to a 2005 incident when the board of the university fired two administrators (and suspended a third) in connection to a forensic audit. In the months that followed, several high-ranking officials were fired or suspended and others resigned. Senior staff, including one of the fired administrators Wes Stevenson, alleged political interference in the operation of the university by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and its vice-chief, Morley Watson.

Stevenson was charged with fraud over $5,000 in June 2008 and his trial is pending. He maintains that he is innocent of any wrongdoing, and said that he is looking forward to his day in court so that he can clear his name.

Although FNUC has since been reinstated to full status with the AUCC, not everyone is convinced that the autonomy problems have been resolved. In 2008, the Canadian Association of University Teachers censured the institution, asking the academic community to boycott it because of alleged limits on academic freedom.

The drama that has been FNU’s finances continued this week when Norris asked Saskatchewan’s Justice Ministry to look into whether a scholarship fund was misused. Of $390,000 that was in the fund a year ago, only $15,000 remains.

A letter sent to Norris by the university’s acting chief operating officer says the money was used for general operating costs during times of low cash flow. The letter says the “inappropriate” use of the trust fund happened under the previous administration.

- with files from CP

With funding from both levels of government eliminated, future of institution in peril.

The federal government has pulled funding from the First Nations University of Canada over ongoing concerns with finances and governance. Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl says his department won’t renew about $7.3 million to the Regina-based institution effective March 31.

For more on this story, please click here.

“For some time now, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada has worked with the First Nations University of Canada to help it address long-standing, systemic problems related to governance and financial management of the institution,” Strahl said in a news release Monday. “There have been repeated delays by the institution to take action on these matters. This situation can no longer continue.”

The aboriginal university opened in 2003 with the idea that education would be to the future of young aboriginal people what the buffalo was to past generations. But it has been under a cloud for virtually its entire existence.

There have been allegations of financial mismanagement and political interference by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations which oversees the school. The federation would not comment on Ottawa’s decision.

Problems erupted in 2005 when a federation vice-chief, who was chairman of the board of governors, suspended several senior administrators, seized the university’s central computers and copied the hard drive with all faculty and student records. The federation set up an all-chiefs task force that recommended governance changes, but they were never made.

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada put the university on probation in 2007. That was lifted in 2008 but later that year the Canadian Association of University Teachers voted to censure the school for “its ongoing failure to resolve the serious problems with the governance of the university.”

A provincially funded operational review said in January 2009 that the school needed a smaller, less politicized board.

A wrongful dismissal suit recently filed by a former financial officer at the university alleges there were questionable travel expenses and paid vacation time. A financial audit has been ordered and is to be completed by March.

Ottawa’s move comes after the Saskatchewan government’s decision last week to cut $5.2 million in funding to the school. That’s about 20 per cent of the university’s budget.

Strahl said he has told Indian Affairs officials to work with their provincial counterparts, the University of Regina — which has an academic partnership with the aboriginal university–  and other stakeholders to find solutions that will help students and faculty in the weeks ahead. “I understand that these are difficult times for students and faculty. My primary interest is to ensure that students are able to complete their academic year,” said Strahl.

The Canadian Press

Financial irregularities, governance problems continue to plague the embattled institution

The Saskatchewan government’s warning that it could cut off funding to the First Nations University of Canada within days has put the future of the embattled school in question and left students hoping that it will survive.

“We love our institution and we don’t want to lose it,” said Cadmus Delorme, with the First Nations University of Canada Student Association. “We’d like to see it stay within First Nations/Indian education, but if that’s not working today, then we want assurance that it’s going to be there tomorrow. If it has to have other institutions come in and take it over for a while, then let it be.”

Delorme was among six students who met Thursday evening with Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris. It was Norris who said earlier in the day that he expects a decision soon about whether to continue supporting the aboriginal university in light of ongoing governance problems and allegations of financial irregularities. “It would be accurate to say that there is significant jeopardy regarding public funding for First Nations University,” said Norris.

The province has been patient, Norris said, but it is concerned that a report on how to fix governance at the school is late. It was supposed to be submitted by the end of January, but now won’t be ready until mid-February.

“Quite simply, that’s not acceptable for us,” Norris said. “We know what needs to be done. We know that the board needs to be reconstituted. We know it needs to be a smaller board and there are opportunities for the creation of something like a senate … This was to be a blueprint of how to get there.” Norris suggested the fact the report isn’t ready “reinforces to me (that) the prospects for governance change continue to drag on.”

There are also worries about new allegations of financial irregularities, the minister said. A wrongful dismissal suit filed by Murray Westerlund, a former financial officer of the aboriginal university, alleges there were questionable travel expenses and paid vacation time. An internal audit has been ordered and is to be completed by March.

Norris said $675,000 in conditional funding won’t flow to the school until the allegations are resolved. But the big debate is around funding for the next school year — the province provides about $4 million to $5 million in annual support.

The federal government provides the aboriginal school with about $7.2 million annually. However, there are conditions on a portion of that funding and Ottawa is still holding back $1.2 million.

“The $1.2 million is dependent on two reports that FNUC still has to submit to us. The first one is a report on governance and the second is a comprehensive action plan,” said Rod Desnomie, a Regina-based spokesman for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. “We have not received those yet.”

The governance report was due Nov. 30 and the action plan was due Jan. 1. Desnomie says the money won’t flow until the reports are submitted, reviewed and accepted by Indian and Northern Affairs.

There have been longstanding concerns with how the Regina-based university is run and questions about academic freedom and political interference from the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. The federation was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

Both province and feds are withholding funding from beleaguered university

Officials from the First Nations University of Canada are accusing the federal and provincial governments of being uncooperative and unnecessarily negative in their attempts to address alleged governance problems at the Saskatoon school, according to The StarPhoenix.

“The government should just get off its pot and start doing something more positive,” said faculty member Sharon Acoose in a speech to a gathered crowd of about 100 at Thursday’s open house. “Work with us. We have a beautiful university. Open your eyes and see that.”

In 2005, Morley Watson, chair of the university’s board of governors, suspended several senior administrators and allegedly seized the university’s central computers, copied the hard drive with all faculty and student records, and ordered administrative staff out of their offices.

Since that time, two different studies by both the provincial government and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations have recommended changes to the university’s board structure in an effort to improve transparency and good governance. Enrolment at the school has plunged, and many of the faculty and administrative staff have left.

In November 2008, the Canadian Association of University teachers imposed censure on the university, which meant that most of the Canada’s university teachers have been told to refuse appointments at the university, decline invitations to speak or participate in academic conferences hosted by the university, and turn down any distinctions.

Last March, the province suspended $200,000 of funding to the school, saying that “fundamental changes” needed to be made, and the federal department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada is withholding more than $2 million for the same reason.

Those reactions are not sitting well with many of Thursday’s speakers, reports The StarPhoenix.

According to Acoose, the university is being “picked on.” She praised the work of university president Charles Pratt and vice-president of finance Al Ducharme. “Let us do our jobs. Quit holding the purse strings above our heads. We are not puppets.”

The university’s vice-president of academics Herman Michell said he agrees with Acoose.

“Sharon Acoose mentioned the struggles our university has gone through in the past four or five years. She’s right. As far as I’m concerned, we should have 50 of these First Nations universities across Canada. A lot of institutions across Canada are facing the same challenges we are,” he said.

“I call on the federal and provincial government to step up to the plate and help us do our work.”

A spokesman for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada says his department is “not going to address the comments made at the open house.” He said the funding conditions will remain, along with their late-November deadline.

Sask. post-secondary minister says he’s pleased with provincial review

The minister responsible for post-secondary education in Saskatchewan insists a new report calling for changes at an aboriginal university “is not going to be ignored.”Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris says he’s pleased with the report on governance issues at the First Nations University of Canada. The provincially funded operational review looked at the school’s finances, administration and programming.

A copy leaked to a teachers group suggests the struggling school needs a smaller, less politicized board of governors and says changes should be implemented next month.

Norris declined to comment further, saying he’s still reviewing the report and a response from the board.

The comments come after the association of university teachers raised concerns Tuesday about what will happen to the school and funding if the review is ignored.

- The Canadian Press

Says administration has violated principles “fundamental to higher education”

The Canadian Association of University Teachers has voted to censure the First Nations University of Canada after years of turmoil at the Saskatchewan school.The association voted on the motion at a council meeting Nov. 30, saying the university has serious governance problems that must be addressed.

“Censure is a measure of last resort used only when we are faced with violations of principles that are fundamental to higher education,” says CAUT executive director James Turk.

Censure means that most university teachers will be told to refuse appointments at the university, decline invitations to speak or participate in academic conferences hosted by the university, and turn down any distinctions it offers. It was last imposed by the association in 1979.The vote comes after several years of turmoil at the university. In 2005, according to CAUT, “Morley Watson, a vice-chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and then-chair of the university’s board of governors, suspended several senior administrators, seized the university’s central computers and copied the hard drive with all faculty and student records, and ordered administrative staff out of their offices.”

As a result, the FSIN appointed an All-Chiefs task force to recommend a new governance model for the university. Their November 2005 report recommended a smaller and more depoliticized board that would “respect and incorporate First Nations culture and governance traditions, ensure governance effectiveness and efficiency, incorporate high quality governance standards, enable the linkage with and participation of the University’s ownership and improve accountability.”

James Turk, CAUT exective director, says the governance recommendations were never implemented and problems persist.

In most cases, he says, university administrations realize the damage that censure will do to their ability to attract and retain staff, as well as host academic conferences, and try to resolve internal problems quickly.

“While the [First Nations University] administration and board were given every opportunity, they refused to show any serious willingness to address the concerns,” says Turk.

The association says ongoing problems at the university have led to the dismissal or resignation of the president, two vice-presidents, deans of two campuses, more than one-third of the academic staff and about half of the administrative, professional and technical staff. Enrollment has also dropped along with research and special project revenue.

In order to lift the censure, the First Nations University will have to implement the recommendations in its own task force report from 2005 and prove to the association that its governance problems have been resolved.

The First Nations University of Canada’s deficit just the latest episode at this troubled university

When administrators at the First Nations University of Canada in Regina realized in January that they would post a deficit this year, they put a freeze on hiring, travel, and raises. They estimated that the school would come out $100,000 in the red.

But this week, we learned that the school actually ran a $1.2 million deficit for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008. Surprise! That’s two years in a row that the school has run over $1 million in the red.

Now FNUC is going to both levels of government looking for funding to bail them out of the shortfall, which is just the latest in a long series of recent problems at the school.

The university was put on probation by the Association of Universities and Colleges Canada (AUCC) last year after allegations that the school wasn’t operating independently of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. AUCC cited concerns about the university’s independence, institutional autonomy, and academic freedom in relation to the decision.

The concerns were linked to a incident when the board of the university fired two administrators (and suspended a third) in connection to a forensic audit. In the months that followed, several high-ranking officials were fired or suspended and others resigned. Senior staff, including one of the fired administrators Wes Stevenson, alleged political interference in the operation of the university by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and its vice-chief, Morley Watson.

Although FNUC has since been reinstated to full status with the AUCC, not everyone is convinced that the autonomy problems have been resolved. The Canadian Association of University Teachers is currently censuring the institution and asking the academic community to boycott because of alleged limits on academic freedom.

Then, in June, the RCMP charged Stevenson with fraud. The RCMP issued a release saying that a 57-year-old man, formerly of Regina, is accused of defrauding the university of a sum exceeding $5,000.

Stevenson, who maintains that he is innocent of any wrongdoing, said in June that he was looking forward to his day in court so that he can clear his name. “After three horrific years I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel here,” he said. “I must admit I am angry that it has come to this, because I have done nothing to defraud the institution. But that’s what the courts are there for.”

In an email this week, Stevenson said that the FNUC’s annual audit “saddens” him. “Before the political turmoil began in 2005, this was a healthy and budding institution,” he wrote. “What other Association of Universities & Colleges of Canada (AUCC) member in good standing could get away with shenanigans like these?”

The Saskatchewan government is expected to make a funding announcement next week.