RCMP still investigating allegations of financial mismanagement by YWCA Agvvik

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About five years after allegations of financial mismanagement among senior staff at two Iqaluitwomen’s shelters came to light, an RCMP investigation looking into the matter is still ongoing.

A report issued last week by Nunavut’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Graham Steele confirms that the police investigation continues.

In 2017, CBC News reported that the Nunavut government was launching a forensic audit into the YWCA Agvvik Nunavut amid the allegations.

At the time, it was reported that the allegations came in a trove of anonymously leaked documents, obtained by CBC News, purportedly detailing the organization’s financial statements over the past number of years.

The documents were sent to local politicians, federal authorities, and the CEO of YWCA Canada, Maya Roy.

According to the leaked documents, staff wages and reimbursements were under scrutiny by the organization’s auditors, chartered accountants Lester Landau, for the organization’s 2015/2016 financial statements.

A letter from the auditors at the time noted that YWCA Agvvik’sexecutive director received about $75,000 in “shift replacement payments” which were “outside of the employee’s regular salary and there was no evidence of review or approval of these additional payments.”

The auditors also noted that offer letters had been made to employees that were inconsistent with the salary scale approved by the board of directors, and that staff received annual $200 bonuses without board approval.

Further, the auditors raised concerns about how the board’s former president signed blank checks in advance, so that “cheques can be issued when the board president is unavailable.” The auditors also noted that staff had been funded for travel expenses that appeared to be “personal in nature.”

The Nunavut government confirmed at the time that the Department of Family Services was investigating it took up an audit of YWCA Agvvik, carried out by a private accounting firm. The Department of Finance later began its own audit of the organization, carried out by the Nunavut government’s internal audit division, and it produced two reports.

In March 2021, the RCMP confirmed to CBC News that the allegations were being investigated by the Nunavut RCMP and that the Federal Serious Organized Crime Unit is the lead on this investigation.

Government audits to be withheld

The report last week from the information and privacy commissioner came in response to a recent access to information request by CBCNews, seeking to obtain the audits.

Commissioner Steele sided with the Nunavut government’s decision not to release the audits, citing the ongoing RCMP investigation.

The departments consulted with the RCMP, according to Steele’s report, and refused disclosure of its audit documents on the grounds that the audit reports were compiled as part of an investigation and that disclosure could prejudice the investigation.

The departments of Family Services and of Finance said they wouldwithhold their external audit reports unless criminal charges are laid in connection to the investigation orRCMP state publicly that no criminal charges will be laid.

Steele agreed with this position, saying that “there is a reasonable possibility that the RCMP investigation could be prejudiced by disclosure of the reports.”

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