The northern Village of Pinehouse is under a formal inquiry by the province. (Marty Martinson/paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

municipal inspection

Citizens concerned by inspector’s departure from Pinehouse inquiry

May 23, 2019 | 5:48 PM

The citizens who helped prompt a formal inquiry, including a financial investigation into the northern Village of Pinehouse, are concerned the probe could fall by the wayside now that the lead investigator is moving on to another role. However, the government says the probe is a top priority.

Neil Robertson, a long time lawyer, has now been appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench. He had been appointed by the province in December to oversee the probe into Freedom of Information issues and other matters of governance a the village.

I think the legs are kind of being chopped from underneath us – _{D’Arcy Hande}

The so-called Freedom of Information group of citizens are concerned the momentum seen in recent months will now be lost along with the government’s focus on tackling the deficiencies at the municipality. The village had ignored multiple freedom of information requests over many years and an initial inspection by Robertson was expanded to a full financial and operational inquiry earlier this year.

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“We felt confident in the process; now I think the legs are kind of being chopped from underneath us,” freelance researcher D’Arcy Hande told paNOW. “We don’t know where the process is going.”

We went through a lot of hard work to get this investigation going _{– Fred Pederson}

He said the community was ready to turn the corner and have things resolved so he’s concerned Robertson’s departure from the file will delay things further.

“Waiting for another inspector to be appointed …if this is to drag on, I don’t think that’s an acceptable outcome,” Hande said.

Fellow member of the group Fred Pederson said he was shocked to hear Robertson was moving off the file.

“We went through a lot of hard work to get this investigation going and we had a lot of confidence things would get straightened out,” Pederson said. “If the government knew Robertson would be moving to another position, why would they not prepare a replacement to go over the files so they could carry on immediately?”

However, in an emailed response to paNOW, the provincial government said:

“The Ministries of Government Relations and Justice commenced work to find a replacement for Justice Robertson immediately upon being informed of his appointment. The completion of the inquiry into the Northern Village of Pinehouse is of the upmost priority for the Government of Saskatchewan.”

The statement added more information of the timeframe of the inquiry would be available once Robertson’s replacement was appointed.

The contents of Robertson’s initial report were obtained by the StarPhoenix newspaper. It reported they included a recommendation that the Village of Pinehouse’s Mayor Mike Natomagan and one of its councillors, Conrad Misponas, be removed from their positions based on “failure to perform duties” and “apparent contraventions.”

The opposition NDP has called for Robertson’s initial report to be made public but the government has so far not done so.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow