Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

B.C. First Nations Health Authority says allegations of financial misdoing inaccurate

OTTAWA—A non-profit organization that will take over responsibility for delivering aboriginal health services in British Columbia from Health Canada says allegations of financial mismanagement are based on outdated and incomplete documents leaked by a disgruntled employee.

“It is natural for human beings to respond fearfully in the face of transformative change,” Davis McKenzie, a spokesman for the First Nations Health Authority based in West Vancouver, wrote in an emailed statement Tuesday.

The First Nations Health Authority is slated to replace Health Canada as the agency responsible for delivering health care to the aboriginal population in B.C., the result of an agreement between First Nations and the federal and provincial governments signed in October 2011.

Transferring federal health programs to the First Nations Health Authority by Oct. 1 would also involve about $2.5 billion in federal health transfers over five years.

The National Post published a story Tuesday citing leaked internal Health Canada documents that suggested the First Nations Health Authority had directed millions of dollars to programs without explaining what activities they would cover. It also cited a three-page internal document suggesting the First Nations Health Authority had $33 million in “surplus” government funds that was intended to run programs in its launch phase and could not account for another $4 million.

Health Canada spokesman Alastair Sinclair said the three-page memo was “an internal working document” meant to support a broader evaluation and does not accurately reflect what the department eventually found or its views of the organization and how it manages money.

“They are a sort of snapshot in time. They are out of date and incomplete,” Sinclair said in a telephone interview.

Sinclair did provide the Star with other documents he said Health Canada gave to the Post. Included in them is what he said is an updated recent version of a spreadsheet leaked to that newspaper that he said formed the basis of allegations that the First Nations Health Authority gave millions to programs without a clear reason why.

Sinclair also said several of the discrepancies stem from the fact that the First Nations Health Authority grew out of earlier organizations that organized their books differently.

Both Sinclair and McKenzie pointed to audited financial statements for the fiscal years 2010-11 and 2011-12 posted to the First Nations Health Authority website.

McKenzie suggested the leaked documents came from those upset by the shifting of power from Health Canada to the First Nations Health Authority.

Health Canada’s B.C. regional office is expected to cut about 220 positions due to the transfer, but affected employees will be offered similar jobs with the First Nations Health Authority, which has 90 employees.

“After many years of hard work, we can finally see the finish line for final federal approval. It seems that at least one Health Canada employee working in the Pacific region didn’t want the FNHA to cross this finish line,” McKenzie wrote in his email.

Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Joanna Smith 

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