MAA regional offices may close

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CALGARY - Regional Metis Association of Alberta (MAA) offices all across the province are on the verge of close-down as funding, which should have been received

in September, dries up.

The Calgary zone office will be forced to lock its doors at the end of this week

and other regional offices will be following suit as their individual budgets run dry, said Calgary Vice-President Aurele Dumont.

"We have no choice," said an angry and bitter Dumont in an interview this week. "It seems we must either choose between the six local offices or break the MAA head office."

The funding problem began earlier this year after the old provincial Native Secretariat was dissolved and Alberta Municipcal Affairs took over the responsibility for funding Native organizations.

According to Deputy Minister Archie Grover, the funding for the MAA had not been proposed or budgeted for by Native Secretariat and consequently, his department must go to cabinet for approval of new monies.

"We have been working to accommodate some of the funding requirements of the association. But because of budget restriction, we are finding it difficult. However, we haven't given up yet," he said.

Dumont says he sees the situation somewhat differently and accuses the province of deliberately trying to "break the MAA."

"They (the province) are waiting until we've got no more money to give back to the main office," he said.

Dumont added that the funding proposal has been on the cabinet priorities list for several weeks, but the budget proposal has never come before cabinet for discussion.

"They keep saying 'next week.' It's been three weeks now and we were supposed to receive the funds in September."

The Calgary regional office has been forced to shelve plans for housing, education and employment opportunities in order to run on an emergency budget. Unless some funding is received before the end of the week the office will be forced to close and staff will be laid off.

MAA President Sam Sinclair expressed his concern over the funding difficulty in an interview this week. He added that discussions are continuing with the province in a "last ditch" effort to get the regional offices back on the funding track.

In Calgary, Dumont and his staff continue to wind up the office and prepare for shut down.

"It's really hard laying people off just a month before Christmas," said Dumont. "But the province isn't giving us any choice."