Submitted by: MNO staff
The MNO Grand River Métis Council at Governance and
Finance Training: Jennifer Parkinson, President;
Leslie-Anne Muma; Bridget Brown; Barb Lair; Carol Levis,
Senator.
The Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) benefits immensely from the dedicated volunteers who are members of our 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 March 28-29, 2015, the course was offered to the MNO Grand River 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.