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Animal Advocates
Society of BC |
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Dogs for adoption |
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IT'S TIME!
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Databases of breeders/sellers |
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"Too Many Dogs" |
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WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE BC SPCA? |
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SEIZE
AND KILL! or RESCUE AND SAVE? |
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Yard/guard dogs - should keeping dogs in yards 24/7 be banned? "IN MEMORIAM" Remembering people who loved animals, and animals who were loved by people
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Copyright AAS 2000-2004 |
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Read all about it if it's animal news! Daily top stories |
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BC SPCA IGNORES THE LAW AND WON'T PRODUCE AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, which governs the BC SPCA, states clearly that the SPCA must file AUDITED statements Posted By: AAS
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/P/96372_01.htm#section5 CKNW: Animal Welfare Coalition criticizes SPCA finances and secrecy Posted By: AAS
The SPCA has been playing fast and loose with the words 'audited statements' for a couple of years *LINK* Posted By: AAS
http://www.spca.bc.ca/TallTails/
AGM Summary
Posted on 4/28/2003 at 07:50:34 AM by aa "Business Arising from the Minutes" was on the Agenda. Hard to comment on that one because there wasn't any information in the Minutes. A big item on the Agenda was the vote on some proposed amendments to the Bylaws. Each amendment was approved and accepted by a majority. In some cases, all eligible voters accepted the change unanimously. For example, some "housekeeping" changes to correct typos. And some "transitional wording" that removed sentences and phrases that only applied to the 2001-2002 changeover and would no longer be applicable. The larger issues which dealt with the Election of Directors and Filling Casual Vacancies, were also approved but not unanimously. Two voters were opposed to the amendments. Doug B did a nice job on his presentation which reviewed the past year. He revealed many things that were "in the works" that I didn't even know we were involved in. BIG NEWS!! NO FINANCIALS WERE PROVIDED! Nothing! Not consolidated, not audited, not UNaudited. Nothing! I was so shocked and I find this totally unacceptable. I fully understand that it must have been extremely difficult to get all of the branches to submit their financials. I can appreciate that our CFO recently resigned. (Did he know something?). How can the new Board of Directors manage when they don't have financials to work from? Now, about the new Directors and their newly appointed positions. Rick Sargent is the new President!!! I believe Howard Grey has replaced Randy Reynolds as the Treasurer. The Question Period was left to the very end. Surprisingly, there were only a couple of people who asked anything. I was expecting a stampede to the microphone! Overall, it was a small AGM. Not even 1/2 the numbers that were in attendance last year.
What Happened To
Price, Waterhouse,Coopers' Audit...
Posted on 4/28/2003 at 11:37:32 AM by Heather which Kim Capri told Mike Stephen [see posting further down the board]had been completed and would be presented at the AGM? Re(1): What Happened To Price, Waterhouse,Coopers' Audit... Posted on 4/28/2003 at 11:54:28 AM by mike I received the following from Kim Capri this morning (Monday - April 28)
"I am writing to you to correct an
error. When I last corresponded with you, I reported that our
financial statements would be shared at the Annual General
Meeting. I learned, during the Treasurer's Report at the AGM, that
we had been advised by our auditors that we had more work to do
and they recommended not sharing the statements at this time. Our
Treasurer did state that as soon as they were ready, they would be
shared with the Membership at a General Meeting and then would be
posted on the BC SPCA website.I apologize and regret reporting
incorrectly to you. "
While I appreciate the fact that Kim passed this along to me I find it absolutely bizarre,astonishing and disgraceful that the COO of the BC SPCA wasn't informed of this and had to wait until the actual AGM of the Society to find out that there are no financial statements of any kind to be presented at the AGM itself. Is this being accountable? It is a damn funny way of showing it. No wonder people are questioning whether they should donate to the SPCA. Here it is almost 4 months, one third of a year later and they don't know how much money came in and how much money was spent in 2002!
Mike
Stephen
Mike Stephen posted a message
"Further reply from Kim Capri" in the audit thread, saying that
Capri had told him that the financial statements for 2002 had
been audited by Price, Waterhouse, Coopers and that they would
be presented at the AGM. As you have probably heard, no
financial statements of any kind were presented at Saturday's
AGM! When CFO Bill Avery announced his resignation a few weeks
ago, he stated that he would remain in the job until after the
audit was completed. If that audit was completed, why wasn't
it presented at the AGM?
Kim Capri also told Mike that the
2001 statements had been audited as well, but she didn't know
the name of the company. I attended the 2002 AGM and the 2001
statements presented were unaudited. I asked Treasurer Randy
Reynolds why and he used the pre-centralization excuse that some
of the branches could not afford audits. CYA has all this on
tape. Reynolds also stated that
the BC SPCA had never filed audited statements, as required
under the PCA Act.
I'm told that there will be a couple
of interesting press releases in the next couple of days. Rick
Sargent is now President and Howard Gray is Treasurer. I hope we
may get some answers to our questions, but, as to "Where is the
money really going?" I'm afraid a better question would
be "Where has the money all gone?"
Heather Pettit
AAS comment:
at least Randy Reynolds told the truth. This is
just what AAS has been saying for years. Our government has
been ignoring this breach of the law, in fact it answers
requests to make the SPCA actually obey the law and produce
audited statements with the cold comfort that it thinks the SPCA
is a fine organization.
BCSPCA
DIRECTOR MISLEADS THE MEDIA ABOUT ITS FINANCES...
Nanaimo Times, May 1/03
Dear Sir, To allay any misconceptions about the financial accountability of the SPCA recently published in the Nanaimo Daily News, may I explain that until the Society’s bylaws were revised in November 2001, all of the then 33 branches were using their own accounting systems. To comply with expectations of an organization as one legal entity, the Society decided it must consolidate the systems for the very purpose of being more accountable. This has proved to be a monumental task. For the first time in the Society’s history, all branches are now using the same accounting codes and next year a full audit will be easily carried out. In the meantime, our auditors PriceWaterhouseCoopers, are doing a “review engagement”- the highest level of review other than a full audit. It is expected to be completed and published shortly. In the meantime, please be assured that the Society is doing everything it is legally required to do. We appreciate the understanding and patience of our supporters in this transition. Norma LePage Regional Director BC SPCA AAS comment: Dear Ms LePage, you may not be aware, but more than a year later, there are still no audited statements...as the law requires.
Global and Shaw TV transcripts.
Posted on 4/24/2003 at 02:41:18 AM by Maria Global reporter Michelle Miller: "Today's new coalition says all salaries should be made public but as a result of the scandal they already are.( camera pans to financial statements on the screen, showing salary ranges, not individual salaries as we asked for) The coalition also demands audits but the SPCA'S financial statements are already independently audited and available to the public. Still the demands continue." Kim Capri on Global TV, referring to the PCA Act,: "It definitely makes us different than other charities, but in terms of some of the concerns around accountability, they're completely unwarranted. We are as accountable as any charity in BC."
"We opened our doors and said folks, we want to hear what you
think, and we received over a 1,000 submissions from members of
the community
directing us and giving us their feedback about where they believed we should be going. and that process was the foundation for our strategic plan. You know so to say we are an organization that doesn't listen to communities it just baffles me." **************************** Shaw TV: Michelle Simick reporter: " The SPCA on the other hand says it has heard the complaints before but thinks they're unfounded." Kim Capri: "I think that we actually take additional steps to be accountable. On our website we post things like our salary scales, our financial statements are audited at year end and those audit figures and our year end reports are available to our members and actually to anybody that asks."
AAS comment: that was said to the
media more than a year ago, and there are still no audited
statements.
*********************** My comments: (Maria Sorowski) The coalition asked to see SPCA individual salaries. If the SPCA were under the societies act those individual salaries above 50,000. would have to be revealed. We are not asking for salary ranges. Since when have the SPCA had a full audit provincially? Last year at the AGM April 2002, Randy Reynolds the treasurer revealed the BC SPCA has never had a full audit in all the years it has operated. IF the SPCA says as Kim Capri revealed on Shaw TV, that these audited statements are available to the public, where are they? When were they audited and by what independent auditor? I suggest everyone write the SPCA or better yet go down to head office and demand to see them.
Maria.
Who To Phone For
Info About BC SPCA Financial Statements
Posted on 5/13/2003 at 03:58:47 PM by Heather Back in April 2003, I received an email from the Minister of Agriculture, John van Dongen. Here's an excerpt: "In your correspondence, you state that the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has never submitted an audited financial statement to the Registrar of Companies, as required by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Ministry staff have inquired with officials at the Corporate and Personal Properties Registries, Ministry of Finance, and are advised that the Society has been diligent and is current with its financial reporting requirements. You may obtain a copy of these documents by contacting the Societies and Cooperatives Unit in Victoria at 250-356-7711." I have phoned Mrs. Val Proctor at that number but I've never got beyond her answering machine and she hasn't yet returned my calls. As Maria mentions below, it's more than 14 days since the BC SPCA AGM and the audited financial statements for 2002 should be on file with Mrs. P. Please join me in asking Mrs. P. to send us copies of the audited statements for 2001 and 2002! I'm willing to bet that all she'll produce are statements for the former Vancouver Regional Branch.
Re(1): 2002 Financial statements
Posted on 5/13/2003 at 04:38:40 PM by mike I sent an e-mail today asking for a copy of the 2002 Financial Statements. I received a reply from Lorie Chortyk which said: "We would be happy to supply you with a copy of the Financial Statements as soon as Price Waterhouse Coopers finishes their review. They will also be posted on the BC SPCA website for full public access. The reason for the delay is that this is the transition year of having 33 different accounting systems/codes around the province (our old system) being merged into one consolidated budget (our new system). This means that PWC has to review 33 different systems at once instead of one. Beginning in January, 2003, all of our branches have been using a common accounting/coding system so we will be able to provide a full audit in a very timely fashion next year. We apologize for the delay, but it is a one-time circumstance as we move to our common accounting system. Under the new accounting system we will be able to provide financial information and analysis month by month, or area by area, depending on how people want to access the information -- this was not possible under the old system."
Re(1): 2002
financials
Posted on 5/13/2003 at 11:20:45 AM by Heather My husband, who's still a Life Member, wrote asking for a copy of the 2002 financial statements and received a copy of the unaudited 2001 statement. Who do they think they're fooling! Why can't they be honest with their members? Animal rights groups want money-losing SPCA audited Vancouver Courier, January 9, 2004 By David Carrigg-Staff writer A coalition of animal rights groups wants the provincial government to investigate the B.C. SPCA's $10 million in losses over the past three years. In a prepared statement, Cheryl Rogers, spokeswoman for the B.C. Animal Welfare Coalition, said the society's 2001 and 2002 financial statements were not audited, as is required under the society's governing Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Rogers also refuted a Dec. 10 claim by the society's acting executive director, Craig Daniell, that the B.C. SPCA receives no government funding for its cruelty investigations, emergency rescue and other animal services. Daniell made the claim after the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents some front-line society staff, launched a campaign asking people to donate animal food and services to the society, but not money. The B.C. SPCA recently laid off several management and front-line staff members, blaming high union wages and increased shelter costs for the society's dismal financial performance. CUPE, in turn, pointed to almost $1 million the society has spent in the past three years on severance packages for ousted managers. A former executive director of the B.C. SPCA's Vancouver branch won an undisclosed out-of-court settlement after he was fired. The firing followed revelations that his salary had risen from $88,000 to $204,000 a year between 1996 and 2001, despite that branch's worsening financial situation. After Hooper was fired, the society launched some reforms, centralizing control of its 32 B.C. branches at head office in Vancouver. Doug Brimacombe, executive director of head office, then employed a string of new managers, who were laid off shortly after he was let go in May with no public explanation. Daniell has since taken over as acting executive director. Rogers said the 2001 and 2002 unaudited financial statements show the society received almost $2 million in gaming funds and $140,000 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. The society also receives money from municipalities for animal control and shelter work. "Contrary to what the CEO claims, considerable taxpayer dollars go to this organization that now reports serious financial trouble," Rogers wrote, pointing to deficits of $2.6 million in 2001, $4.5 million in 2002 and a projected $3.5 to $4 million this year, for a $10 million deficit. She said the group first called for government intervention and an audit in April, a request echoed by CUPE Dec. 3. "Minister John van Dongen is responsible for the SPCA legislation and to the public. Where is his oversight of the B.C. SPCA's financial situation?" Graham Currie, spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, said the government does not intend to intervene in the affairs of the B.C. SPCA, a private organization. He said the society has filed the paperwork required under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
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