Submitted by Glen Lipinski, Community Relations Coordinator
Participants in the MNO Governance and Finance Training in
Thunder Bay May 30-31, 2015: (Front row left-right) Patricia Obie,
Lori Laforme, Megan Tiernan, Darby Staratt (Back row left to right)
Gabriel Picard, Angela Brotchie, John Connor, Bryanna Scott, Karen
Drake, Paul Robitaille, Derek Anderson.
The Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) benefits immensely from the dedicated volunteers who are members of chartered community councils. These hard-working individuals spend hundreds of hours building and strengthening their Métis communities.
The MNO has developed a Governance and Finance course that helps community councils perform their important work. The course is delivered by Glen Lipinski and Beth Honsberger from the MNO Community Relations team.
On April 30-31, 2015, the course was offered to the MNO Thunder Bay Métis Council. In the past, courses have been available in Atikokan, Credit River, Georgian Bay, Grand River, Milton, Niagara, North Bay, Ottawa, Peterborough, Sudbury, Temiskaming, Toronto and Windsor.
The course is a two-day seminar, usually on weekends, in a hotel or meeting hall in each council’s community. The program explains the role of community councils as the MNO’s local governments, whose structure and purpose is coordinated through each council’s charter agreement with the MNO. The course covers everything from how to run effective meetings and engage citizens in council activities to budgeting and the various financial practices, regulations and legislation that community councils follow.