MNBC Continues to Spend Money on Legal Counsel

Letter sent to Metis Nation BC Legal Counsel this morning…

Thank you for the letter this morning to requesting BC Mètis Federation to remove the MNBC training documents from the website. I confirm that BC Mètis Federation has now removed the documentation as requested but would like to clarify a few points based on your allegations.

BC Metis Federation does not agree there has been any privacy breach by myself or the BC Mètis Federation in the materials presented. By publishing the material it does not violate Section 1, due to an exception of public interest. A publication of a matter is not a violation of privacy if the matter published was of public interest or was fair comment on a matter of public interest, or the publication was privileged in accordance with the rules of law relating to defamation.

The information that has been made public is from public funded government programs and services. It is our belief the threshold of public accountability increases in terms of full transparency given the seriousness of this matter and the nature of the relationship of Joanne Dumont in light of questions about her Métis self declaration and funded provided by MNBC, the organization her husband is the President.

I cannot confirm how the information was obtained in this matter as it was faxed anonymously to my attention. I believe your client MNBC should have been negligible and Joanne should file a privacy complaint against the MNBC with the Officer of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada given the fact that her information has been shared from an unknown source. I can confirm BC Métis Federation only received two pages as posted but now removed.

BC Métis Federation has posted the truth about the situation in the public interest and questioned how Joanne qualified for this funding program. BC Métis Federation filed a discrimination claim against the MNBC to the Canadian Human Rights Commission in January 2013 for similar reasons that this latest information further proves. BC Métis Federation has filed further complaints regarding this situation and will continue to follow this up as per due process. However we respect the wishes of your clients and will remove the information specific to the picture and MNBC documents from the website.

It appears MNBC, as your client with Joanne’s husband as President, are once again using MNBC resources to defend another questionable situation that brings forward many questions. BC Metis Federation has not retained legal counsel at this point given the matter has been filed through other channels. It is very disappointing that MNBC is supporting legal costs in this matter using public funds. A simple request to BC Mètis Federation would have been respected. We continue to review our options and follow up actions but the documents will be removed as requested.

We trust this will be sufficient for your clients.

Thank you,
Keith Henry
President

cc Marko Ve

[ilink url=”/wp-content/uploads/BCMF-Letter-to-MNBC-Counsel-February-21th-2013.pdf” style=”download”]Download this Letter in PDF format[/ilink]
[ilink url=”/wp-content/uploads/Ltr-to-K.-Henry-Feb-21-2013.pdf” style=”download”]Download Lawson/Lundell Legal Letter[/ilink]

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