Vice Chief says he cant stand behind FSIN statement on audit in an open letter to rights holders

The youngest, and one of the newest vice chiefs at the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) has broken the silence around the recently released forensic audit. Craig McCallum was elected to his first term as 4th vice chief in the October 2024 FSIN election. In an open letter to the rights holders, the chiefs of the 74 member First Nations, McCallum says the “findings cannot be dismissed or minimized.” “If we expect Canada to respect our Nations and uphold its fiduciary obligations, then we must also hold ourselves to the highest standards of accountability,” he says in the letter. “For that reason, I cannot, in good conscience, stand behind the statement released by the other executive of the FSIN.” Indigenous Services Canada posted the findings of a forensic audit completed by KPMG into allegations of misspending at FSIN on its website Friday. One of the largest sums deemed questionable was $23.5 million of the COVID-19 funds given to FSIN to help citizens cope with the pandemic. The FSIN rejected the finding that COVID-related spending was not well documented, saying in the news release that “receipts and/or invoices were provided for every expenditure.” None of the FSIN leadership including Chief Bobby Cameron and Vice Chief David Pratt have talked about the contents of the audit. McCallum notes in the letter that he had only been in office for five months of the five-year review period. “I cannot speak to the decisions made before my term, but I can speak to the need for change going forward. Denial and deflection will not restore trust,” McCallum said. On Friday, FSIN released a statement and “fact sheet” largely disputing the findings of the forensic audit that found $34M in “questionable, ineligible or unsupported” expenditures by the FSIN over a five year span. The treaty advocacy organization has not been taking questions on the audit findings, outside of the statement. Chiefs have criticized the organization for a lack of transparency, something that McCallum has also called for, asking the organization to “acknowledge what has gone wrong.” “Only transparency, humility, and the wisdom to listen to our people will heal the wounds caused by secrecy.” FSIN criticized ISC for not providing the full audit report to them, saying it couldn’t properly respond without seeing all the details. ISC had responded to a request from APTN News about the FSIN asking for the full report and the federal department responded Friday that it hadn’t received such a request. Continue Reading