Yellowknife (Nov 08/04) - A society set up to help students sexually abused at an Inuvik residential school is being asked to return part of $1.1 million amid questions about its accounting practices.

During its three-year existence, the Grollier Hall Residential School Healing Society received money from the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, a national organization created to help victims of residential school abuse.

Now the AHF has questions about where the society spent the grant money.

"Their record keeping was not good," said Wayne Spear, a communications officer with the AHF. "We wanted them to account for where the money was going."

The AHF grants - one for $343,000 and another for $798,000 - were earmarked for victims of sexual abuse at the infamous Grollier Hall Residential School, where dozens of young boys were molested by supervisors over the course of three decades.

Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya, who was executive director of the society, insisted the grants went to help victims of sexual abuse.

"The money was spent to meet the needs of the families who were affected by the residential school," he said.

As part of the funding agreement, the Grollier Hall society was required to file financial statements outlining exactly how the money was being spent. But by the summer of 2001, nearly six months after the grants had been issued, the society had failed to justify its spending to the AHF.

In August and October 2001, AHF officials travelled to Yellowknife to inspect the programs offered by the society and meet with board members and Yakeleya."They submitted reports, but no financial statements," said Spear.

In addition to the problems surrounding the AHF grants, the society failed to file a financial statement or list of directors with the territorial government - documents required for a group to maintain its non-profit status.

In April 2001, an official in the Corporate Registries office requested records for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 fiscal years. "A review of your file indicates your society is not in good standing," the letter said.

Yakeleya said he was surprised to hear the proper financial documentation had not been filed with the government. "I know they were done," he said. "I'll have to check to see what the issue was."

Registrar Tony Wong told News/North it is not unusual for societies to fall behind in their filings. At the time, his office gave groups up to five years to file documentation before they were denied non-profit status.

"Sometimes they are not very organized because of their internal administration," Wong said.

While the Grollier Hall society did provide some valuable services to victims of residential school abuse, Spear said AHF officials were troubled by the lack of financial accountability.

The AHF is faced with the task of trying to recover funds from an organization that Yakeleya said went into receivership in 2001. Spear declined to say how much money his organization was seeking.

Yakeleya contended money was going to help victims of Grollier Hall abuse, but the society had to be innovative because it was one of the first organizations of its kind in the country.

"It was a pilot project. We went through the (growing) pains," Yakeleya said. "We had to be flexible in terms of helping the victims. Now the society is a model that is being used across Canada."

"Somebody should be accountable"

In March of 2000, former society CEO Lawrence Norbert complained publicly about the financial accountability of the board. Norbert accused members of being in conflict of interest and he alleged members took unauthorized flights.

Yakeleya said an independent audit of the Grollier Hall society that year - a year before the foundation received the AHF grant - revealed no financial wrongdoing.

Greg Krivda, a former member of the Grollier Hall board who resigned in 2001, said he did not know why the society failed to file financial statements as required by territorial law.

"I think they tried to form a business and it went downhill," said Krivda, who declined to elaborate.

Krivda did say the society should have been more careful with the way it spent grant money. "Somebody should be accountable," he said.

Members of the society who signed the incorporation papers in 1998 included Harold Cook, George Cleary, Isodore Manuel and Charlie Gaudet and Norbert.

Cook, Cleary and Norbert did not respond to requests for interviews by press time. News/North was unable to contact Manuel and Gaudet.

- With files from Mike Bryant