UCN projects a deficit of $1.2 million in 2017-2018, according to college review

 

 

 

As both its 2017-2018 fiscal year and the current four-year collective agreement between the Governing Council of University College of the North (UCN) and the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union (MGEU) come to an end in five days on March 31, UCN is projecting a deficit of $1.2 million in 2017-2018, Higher Education Strategy Associates of Toronto said in its Government of Manitoba: Manitoba College Review System-Wide Report, released March 19. The provincial government asked for the review, co-authored by Alex Usher and Yves Y. Pelletier,  in 2016 and it was undertaken between November 2016 and November 2017.

UCN senior management and the Governing Council are currently working on the 2018-19 fiscal year budget.

The report also said the current role of the Council of Elders extends beyond the legislative advisory intention of the June 10, 2004 University College of the North Act and that UCN is “perceived as having a tri-cameral governing structure,” including the Governing Council and Learning Council also, which is “unique and problematic within a modern university context.” It recommends the Governing Council govern and that it ensure the role of the Council of Elders is advisory, as per the original legislative intent, it says, of almost 14 years ago.

Higher Education Strategies Associates’ mandate was to undertake a review of the five post-secondary institutions in Manitoba that offer college-level programs: Assiniboine Community College, the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology, Red River College, Université de Saint-Boniface and University College of the North, or UCN as its just as often abbreviated to and known as.

In launching the review, the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Brian Pallister, elected in April 2016,  set out five objectives: to develop forward looking system-wide strategic directions and a proactive, co-ordinated, systemic approach to college education; to enable the college system to improve outcomes for students, including indigenous students, with improved completion and employment rates; to strengthen labour market alignment and responsiveness to labour market need; to improve governance and sustainability of the college system with lean, efficient and effective administration and operations; and to further promote innovation, collaboration and partnership opportunities within the college system and with industry partners.

Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates,  is a former director of Educational Policy Institute Canada (EPI Canada), where he managed the “Measuring the Effectiveness of Student Aid Project” for the Millennium Scholarship Foundation, a four-year $4 million research project to investigate the long-term effects of student aid, and is the author of the project’s final report, published in 2010.

Pelletier, a former assistant deputy minister for post-secondary education in New Brunswick, is a senior consultant with London-Ontario-based Academica.

“Based on its current projections and without the increase in revenues, UCN projects a deficit in the next three academic years, of: $1.2 million in 2017-2018; $1.8 million in 2018-2019; and $2.3 million in 2019-2020,” Usher and Pelletier write. “As UCN recognizes that it is not able to run a deficit, management decisions may be needed to reduce expenditures.”

The Manitoba Colleges Review, the shorthand name for the Higher Education Strategies Associates’ report, makes 11 specific recommendations “designed to help strengthen UCN,” the school said in a March 19 news release reacting to the report, “and more than a dozen recommendations regarding Manitoba’s overall college system. ”

The eleventh and final recommendation is that “UCN should clarify the role and responsibility of the Council of Elders, established in Section 16 of the University College of the North Act. The legislation currently notes in Section 16 (2) that: ‘The Council of Elders is to promote an environment at the university college that respects and embraces Aboriginal and northern cultures and values. The Council of Elders is also to promote an understanding of the role of elders within the university college.’

“While their mandate is clear, the Council of Elders has been operating as a third decision-making body of equal standing to the Governing Council and the Learning Council. The role and responsibilities of the Elders Council should be clarified by the Governing Council, who set the duties of the Council of Elders, as per by-law 16 (3). The Governing Council should ensure that the Council of Elders advise on community needs and student supports.”

In their concluding  chapter on the section of the 206-page report devoted to UCN, Usher and Pelletier write: “Through our various qualitative and quantitative measures, we have heard many stories regarding UCN, with many being less encouraging than at other institutions. Over the past decade, since it was given the power to develop and deliver university programming, the number of college programs offered has declined, while enrolments at the college level have been modest. This occurred during a period when the North was undergoing significant economic expansion due to high commodity prices which in turn led to labour shortages in areas where college-level training is required. This was a badly missed opportunity.”

Elsewhere in the report, Usher and Pelletier write: “Administrative decisions have led to a decrease in the number of college-level programs during this 10-year period, from 44 programs offered in 2006-2007 compared to 28 programs in 2015-2016, despite a doubling of its operating budget and a 17 per cent increase in college-level FLE enrolments.”

The transformation of the “former Keewatin Community College into the University College of the North did not have to entail a drop in college-level programming and seems set by management direction. There appears to be consensus, both from industry and community leaders, that UCN suffered from a lack of public engagement, that it was unresponsive in dealing with stakeholders and in some cases stumbled when trying to meet community needs … the current economic condition of the province’s North suggests that many of the trades and colleges skills which were in shortage for much of the past decade are no longer in shortage. UCN should not spend time re-litigating what should have happened in the last decade: it needs to be focused on future needs and it is by no means self-evident that the demand for college-level skills will be higher than that for university-level skills in the next decade.”

Tom Goodman, chair of UCN’s Governing Council, is quoted in the school’s March 19 news release responding to the report as saying, “UCN is committed to working with the Government of Manitoba and other colleges to address the review’s recommendations. UCN will make changes to strengthen our responsiveness to communities and to industry and will make the changes necessary to ensure that we continue to provide the highest quality education to Northerners. We will be taking immediate steps to begin to implement these recommendations.”

Goodman, who lives in the Flin Flon area, is a former senior vice-president and chief operating officer with Hudbay Minerals. He was appointed chair of the Governing Council by the province by order-in-council last April 12, with the appointment announced by Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart.

“This report makes clear that UCN has much work to do,” said Doug Lauvstad, president and vice-chancellor of University College of the North, in the same news release. “UCN is a young institution that has grown quickly since it was first established in 2004. We need to consider the findings of the review, and take the necessary steps to ensure that we can continue to support social and economic development in the North.”

UCN announced last June 23 that Lauvstad, of The Pas, would  take over last Aug. 1 as president and vice-chancellor, succeeding Konrad Jonasson, appointed president and vice-chancellor in June 2012, who retired.

Lauvstad had been serving as the executive director of the Northern Manitoba Sector Council, an association of the region’s largest industrial sectors of mining, forestry and energy. He had worked previously in a senior administration role with UCN and its predecessor, Keewatin Community College, from 1988 to 2007, and holds a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) graduate degree.

UCN operates two main campuses in The Pas and Thompson and 12 regional facilities operated through community partnerships in Flin Flon, Churchill, Swan River, Pimicikamak Cree Nation (Cross Lake), Tataskweyak Cree Nation (Split Lake), Chemawawin Cree Nation (Easterville), Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (Nelson House), Mathias Colomb Cree Nation (Pukatawagan), Norway House Cree Nation, Misipawistik Cree Nation (Grand Rapids), Bunibonibee Cree Nation (Oxford House), and St. Theresa Point First Nation.

The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) university and college students at UCN grew from 894 FTEs in 2011-2012 to 1,168 students in2015-2016, the report said. The percentage of Indigenous students in base-funded university programs continued to increase, from 67 per cent in 2011-2012 to 74 per cent in 2015-16. The number of Indigenous students in base-funded college programs has fallen from 79 per cent to 68 per cent over the same period “The average age of the college student at UCN is 27, a consistent age throughout the last five years,” the report notes.

UCN has about 394 full-time employees, along with additional part-time and contract employees.

The full report can be found at: http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/docs/manitoba_college_review.pdf

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Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Grand Chief David Harper survives non-confidence vote

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Grand Chief David Harper survived a non-confidence vote by his fellow chiefs Sept. 10 at the organization’s 33rd annual general assembly at Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) adjacent to The Pas. Sixteen chiefs voted against the non-confidence motion, nine supported it and one abstained. MKO still faces two forensic audits amid allegations of misspending by the grand chief, which Harper denies.

In July, chiefs had voted to ask Harper to take a voluntary leave pending the outcome of the two forensic audit  investigations, but he refused. That refusal triggered Wednesday’s vote at OCN.
MKO, a non-profit, political advocacy organization founded in 1981, represents 30 First Nation communities in Northern Manitoba, many of which are remote and economically impoverished. MKO First Nations are signatories to Treaties 4, 5, 6 and 10.

Harper, then chief of Garden Hill First Nation, was first elected as MKO grand chief at the 28th annual general assembly at Opaskwayak Cree Nation on Sept. 2, 2009.  Harper succeeded Sydney Garrioch of Cross Lake, who served two terms as MKO grand chief between 2003 and 2009, but stepped down to seek the federal Liberal nomination for Churchill riding, which he got, but later ran unsuccessfully against NDP incumbent Niki Ashton in the May 2011 federal election.

Harper beat out three other candidates for the grand chief’s job in 2009 and was re-elected for a second three-year term after winning on the second ballot Aug. 29, 2012  at the 31st MKO annual general assembly on Norway House Cree Nation. Garden Hill First Nation is situated on Island Lake and adheres to Treaty No. 5. The reserve covers about 18,180 acres and is only accessible by winter road or air. The language in the community is Oji-Cree, often referred to as the Island Lake dialect. Garden Hill has more than 4,000 band members.

Harper was raised in Garden Hill First Nation by his grandparents and attended school there. He later obtained his commercial pilot’s licence and worked as both a corporate pilot and public relations manager for a regional airline before returning to Garden Hill in the mid-1990s.

The push to removed Harper was led by Chief Arlen Dumas of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation at Pukatawagan. Dumas has been one of the leading local players in Idle No More – Northern Manitoba since early last year, and squared off with Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co., Ltd. over mining issues in Northern Manitoba.

More than two-thirds of the current MKO chiefs have been in office less than two years.

MKO’s executive council called in Winnipeg-based forensic auditor Lazer Grant in August 2013 to look at $1.1 million paid to former director of finance Glen Buchko from 2005 to 2011 and and contracts issued by the organization. Buchko was paid about $250,000 annually. The chiefs on the executive council later asked the auditor to expand the investigation to include Harper’s expenses. They questioned a number of items, such as guitars purchased as gifts at a Christmas party, payments for Harper’s girlfriend to travel and repairs to his car. Harper has said he paid back all his personal expenses.

Last month, the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada’s assessment and investigations branch, in an Aug. 12 letter, signed by Sylvie Lecompte, director of the branch, told MKO that it had hired KPMG to audit the books in a separate investigation of its own. KPMG was formed in 1987 with the merger of Peat Marwick International (PMI) and Klynveld Main Goerdeler (KMG) and their individual member firms. The auditors want to looking at how MKO used funds from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada. The organization received around $25 million from the federal government between 2009 and 2012, the latest financial documents available on the AANDC website show.

Harper has said auditors will find no problems with the books.

MKO is awash in red ink. Just in the last year, MKO’s accumulated deficit has increased by more than 30 per cent to about $1.298 million, according to its consolidated financial statement for the fiscal year ending March 31, from about $965,000 the previous fiscal year. MKO had also accumulated an operating deficit of $609,058 by March 31, 2013, which was a 71 per cent increase over the previous year’s operating deficit of $356,108.

Winnipeg-based accountant Bernie Shore, who recently reviewed MKO’s books, told the organization in an Aug. 24 letter he could not audit the organization’s consolidated financial statements for the 2014 and 2013 fiscal years. “I have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion,” wrote Shore. “I do not express an opinion on these consolidated statements.”

Shore also said in the letter he could not review MKO’s federally-funded aboriginal skills and employment training program (ASETS) for the 2013-2014 fiscal year because the money lacked a paper trail. “I was unable to verify recorded or unrecorded amounts related to assets, liabilities, net debt, accumulated deficit and expenditure.”