One month into his job, the new chief executive officer of Saskatchewan’s South Country Health District is trying to clear up a nasty squabble he inherited.
Norm Poirier’s health district wants to reclaim money donated by a Willow Bunch, Sask., resident for the health of his neighbors.
In his life insurance policy, Jared Cayer left $100,000 to the hospital board in Assiniboia, Sask. However, this was 1995, when hundreds of hospital boards were consolidating into 32 health districts. The board sent the money to the town of Willow Bunch, which set up a committee of volunteers to decide how to spend it.
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That committee is now being sued by the health district, which wants the money for capital expenditures.
Town administrator Colette Walter, who is on the committee called the Cayer Memorial Trust Fund Inc., said the original $100,000 has been invested and directors only spend the interest that is earned each year.
Walter said the Cayer fund pays for expenses that Saskatchewan Health will not fund, such as travel costs for families who need to leave the province for medical care.
She said the fund’s directors believe the money was intended for the 431 people who live in Willow Bunch and the 500 residents of the nearby rural municipality. That’s why the directors include representatives from the town, the RM, a nurse, and the brother of the original donor.
Willow Bunch has a wellness centre, but not a hospital. However, Walter said the town owns the clinic building and recently renovated it. That’s why the trust fund directors can’t see how or why the health district would want to spend the $100,000 on capital expenditures.
“We said ‘it’s not our mandate to do that.’ “
But meetings last fall did not resolve the financial tug-of-war. In November, the health district sued the committee and its members.
“We had several meetings to try to not go there,” Walter said.
In the most recent meeting held Jan. 16, Walter said both sides agreed to go back to their committees to see what their bottom line is.
She said the only way to resolve the situation will probably be for the Cayer trust fund group to agree to pay for capital expenditures in Willow Bunch – which would use up all the money.
Walter said she doesn’t think local residents know the fund is frozen and a meeting might have to be held to explain what is happening.
“We don’t have a lot of options. We don’t have money and we’re volunteers. It’s been tough. It’s stressful.”
Poirier said the Jan. 16 meeting was “fairly positive.
“Both communities agree the health of the town of Willow Bunch is pre-eminent. We hope to meet in February and work toward a mutually acceptable conclusion.”
While South Country is not in a deficit position, it is a knife edge away, he said.
“We’re anemic but not in the red ink … The reserves, coffers are pretty well depleted.”
Carmel Bruneau, who attended the Jan. 16 meeting, thinks differently about the discussion. She called it “a total waste of time.”
She represented town council on the Cayer trust fund committee for a two-month period three and a half years ago until her term on council expired. She is named in the lawsuit and feels sideswiped because “I don’t have anything to do with the money.”
What made it worse for Bruneau was that the 59-page lawsuit was handed to her four days before she was to take her seven-year-old daughter to Ontario for cancer treatment.
Ironically, Bruneau received some money from the trust fund and the Kinsmen to help pay for the trip. The health district “has done nothing financially with our trip to Toronto,” she said.
“People around here are just appalled at what’s going on.”
She asked at the Jan. 16 meeting if her name would be removed from the lawsuit. She said her impression is the lawsuit that includes her name will only be dropped if a deal is made on the $100,000.
Saskatchewan’s justice department has four pages on its website discussing a director’s legal liability. Because the law is not precise in this area, a department spokesperson said it recommends non-profit groups buy director liability insurance.
The departmental document said there is some protection if directors “act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the corporation.”
The department’s summary also notes that “traditionally, courts have been reluctant to set out precise rules of conduct” for directors and they consider actions on a case-by-case basis.”
