There was a Plot to Get Rid of Us

Open Letter to Minister of Community Services, Glen Hart and to Premier Dennis Fentie

(Note: This is the text, with a few amendments, of the speech Joanne Van Nostrand delivered at a public meeting in Dawson City on April 14, 2004)

I have to ask if what took place this Tuesday was a well constructed plan that was thought out months ago. Follow me through with these thoughts and then respond to my final questions:

Joanne Van Nostrand voted her conscience and resigned on April 6. One week later, when the rest of the council was sacked, she addressed the meeting with Minister Glenn Hart. Photo by Dan Davidson.

Andre Carrel, the City’s appointed supervisor recommends that the City has its audit done on the new recommended accounting standards. He is very familiar with these standards and has recommended to the Yukon Government that all the communities in the Yukon adopt this standard. This is after he has completed his review of Dawson’s finances, statements and budgets. With his knowledge of these new accounting standards, he was in the position to forecast 3 ­ 4 months ago with accuracy, the outcome of the audited statements just received, and present this information to the Minister.

The DRAFT audited statement arrived at the City office on April 5th, and they were not shown to the council until Good Friday. This is a holiday, when our auditor is not available to answer questions that the council may have. Council was removed Tuesday morning, immediately following the Easter holiday weekend without the opportunity to seek explanations from the auditor. Had the council had the opportunity to talk with the auditor, they would have the explanations for all the discrepancies that are being announced to us through the source of the media.

DRAFT statements are meant for internal use only. A draft statement should never go outside the City office prior to it being finalized. It is the initial review that is subject to change and may even contain errors. A draft statement is meant for internal purposes only. This draft statement has been used for making serious decisions outside of the city office. Why not wait for the final approved audited statements? Would a week or two make any difference?

The only reasons I can think of for acting on the draft statement is: They did not want the council to have opportunity to discuss the statements with the auditor.

The new statements do not change the position that our supervisor was aware of from 2 ­ 3 months ago. The reporting on the new standards changes it’s appearance on paper. It does not change the cash position of the city. This is our tough year which was predicted when we pleaded for help and had the first supervisor appointed to us 3 years ago. This was the projected critical year and that has not changed. We knew we would need help this year, and were always advised by our previous supervisor that help would be there when this time came.

Any municipality in the Yukon asked to change their reporting to this standard over night like we just have, would undoubtedly experience similar discrepancies and deficits. They have the opportunity to receive training on these new standards and have time to make a slow transition.

If this mayor and council are guilty of anything, it is in having trust and confidence in our Government. We are guilty of trusting the commitments made by our NDP Government which were not honored by the succeeding Governments and resulted in the 4 million loan. We are guilty in trusting in the advise of our financial supervisors. We are guilty of trusting in YTG’s representatives on our project management teams giving us advise on the recreation and sewage treatment projects. Council prepared a 7 year forecast after the commitment by the NDP Government was not honored and the $4 million loan was put in place, predicting that we would be in this situation this year. The result of that plan was the appointment of our first financial supervisor who confirmed to YTG that our situation is real. What we could not predict were the problems of the recreation center, but YTG provided us with expert advice at the start of the project to try to avoid complications that would add to making our situation worse. Problems happened despite their expertise and here we are today.

I believe that this was a well thought out plan constructed several months ago to accomplish the removal of mayor and council. For some reason, our MLA, representing the Yukon party was determined to have Glen and me removed from council. This was made obvious during the election when both Glen and I were made aware by people visited by our MLA, Peter Jenkins, that he was going door to door campaigning to ask people not to vote for us. When we proved successful in the election, then our MLA had to push another agenda to be successful in having us removed. I congratulate him on his success. A job well done, unfortunately at the expense of this community!

I urge the government to do a full inquiry into the removal of mayor and council and what lead up to the financial situation of Dawson and justify the action taken by the Yukon party. I believe the government owes it to this community. I think YTG must accept their share of responsibility for where this City is today.

My hope for Dawson is now that we have a well respected trustee in place, that the Yukon party will provide Dawson with the financial support that we need to move on and jump over this hurdle. I back up Glen’s request and challenge for Mr. Peter Jenkins to resign, to pay his bad debt owe to the City of Dawson for cable TV and convention fees, and his bad debt to all Yukoners, and allow Dawson to move ahead in a positive way and put all of this behind us. As long as Peter Jenkins is our MLA, the other half of this problem will still be in the faces of the citizens of this town. If we are going to start fresh without any bias, the only way it can happen is by removing both sides of the conflict. With this statement, I am putting closure to my years as a city councilor and leave you with the following questions to answer if you are able or for others to think about.

My questions to the Yukon Party are:

With the knowledge that our supervisor had of the new standards and the implications it would have on our final audit, why was council not advised 3 or 4 months ago that by changing to these new standards in this audit, we would incur a further deficit on paper, (not through transactions), that would possibly result in this action?

Why was council not provided with the draft audited statements prior to Good Friday so they could consult with the auditor?

Why did the Minister base all his decisions on the Draft statement that the City Treasurer has not even had the opportunity to review? What was the rush that you could not wait for the final approved audited statements and give the council a chance to review the situation and have input? Would a week longer have been a significant delay to know you are working off final approved statements?

Will the government approve a full independent inquiry to the situation leading to Dawson’s financial situation and the removal of mayor and council? Will the Government provide protection to the YTG employees who wish to speak out but may loose their jobs in doing so?

Joanne Van Nostrand

Ex-councilor for the City of Dawson

The Hostages Have Been Freed!

Political Hostages Mayor and Council are finally freed, although this may not have been any of their decision. The petty political vendettas that have had Dawson Mayor and Council by the “ahums”, have really gone out of their way to punish the residents of our little City of a Town. All the conflicts, accusations and pushy petty politics have taken their toll.

Mayor and Council did not need an appointed Babysitter, they needed support. Mr. Babysitter brags about how he gets $800.00 a day for his services in past editions of the Yukon News, why couldn’t this money be allocated to some of the budgets that were cut. Cut so we could pay his $800.00 expense a day, not to mention support a hotel that still owes the “taxpayers” of the Yukon money. I think that some really outlandish decisions have been made and not on the best behalf of Dawson. What goes around comes around.

I don’t understand why Peter Jenkins is still in office after he was repeatedly asked for his resignation. I for one as a resident of Dawson, born and raised would like to publicly ask for Mr. Jenkins resignation. I feel that he is not here for the betterment of Dawson, and is making decisions on a blinded whim based on past conflicts with Mayor and Council.

As for Mr. Carrell, why are you still an appointed babysitter, to push out Mayor and Council and to make way for your and Jenkins “followers”. What have either of you done for this town? I am extremely upset and disappointed in how this has turned out. You are not in Grade school anymore. If you want to do something productive for Dawson then you need to grow up and focus on us as a community, as a whole community.

I am not ashamed to voice my opinion, my parents always taught me to fight for what I believe in and I for one believed and still believe in Mayor and Council.

Vanessa Webber

Born and Raised in Dawson