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

Apr 5, 2019 | 11:57 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.