Council on African Canadian Education audit sent to police

The province has forwarded to Halifax Regional Police the preliminary results of an audit into the finances of the Council on African Canadian Education (CACE).

Last late year, the province announced it was auditing the organization and said it would nolonger fund any positions on the council.

On Friday, Education Minister Karen Casey said in a statement the audit is expected to be completenext month. She did not say why the early findings were forwarded to police.

CACE is tasked with fighting racism and ensuring educational equality for African-Nova Scotian students.The council was originally set up to advise the minister on African-Nova Scotian issues.

In December, the education department decided the council should stop spending money on salaries.The council has a staff of four, including executive director Delvina Bernard. The foursalaries total over $220,000 annually.

"The whole business of CACE operating outside their mandate, and using money that should be directed towards African Nova Scotian learners, was going to pay staff. And that was not within the mandate of CACE," said Casey.

"We know the scores of our African-Nova Scotian students are declining, they're discouraging and I want to make sure that every cent that we have directed towards African-Nova Scotian learners gets to the learner."

Audits reveal concerns

Three recently-released audits show financial and governance concerns at CACE going back five years.

An audit from 2009 found an eight-month period when the organization had only one board member instead of the required 13.

A second audit from May 2013 found discrepancies in the council's financial records.

Auditors suspected Bernard tried to conceal purchases of liquor for council events.They said supporting receipts were largely unavailable for Bernard's expense claims or charges to corporate credit cards.

Calls for comment this afternoon from CACE or Bernard were not returned.

Casey said the department willcontinue working with the group in its advisory role.