By Canadian Press

O’Regan says Cat Lake housing money will not be spent on consultant fee

Apr 5, 2019 | 11:56 AM

OTTAWA — Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O’Regan says the government is “deeply disturbed” by a report that a consultant working for Cat Lake First Nation is demanding a fee of more than $1 million for helping negotiate the band’s recent housing agreement with Ottawa.

O’Regan says every penny of the $12.8 million Ottawa promised last month to rebuild mould-infested housing in the community will go to housing.

He says his department is following up on the idea that a consultant who is working for the northwestern Ontario reserve says his contract means he is to get 10 per cent of any new federal money coming into the reserve.

That would be $1.28 million of the funds for Cat Lake to build 25 new homes and modular housing units and renovate 21 others.

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NDP MP Charlie Angus says the money is to be used to give the community a new beginning and wants assurances from O’Regan that the funds won’t “go to make some outside consultant a millionaire.”

O’Regan says the government’s contract for the funds was signed with the First Nation and nobody else.

The Canadian Press