A local group designed to help immigrant women in Halifax has not received government funding since 2009, after its current executive director was accused of mismanaging money from a federal grant the group received in 2008.

Five years after Rosamond Luke was accused of mismanaging a $142,700 grant from the Status of Women in Canada and a $38,000 grant from the IWK community grants program, the All Women’s Empowerment and Development Association is still working quietly in Halifax. Brenda Saunders-Todd, the former chair of AWEDA, was surprised to learn that the group was still active.

“I am unaware of it (AWEDA) continuing operation, and… can’t imagine who would be providing support?,” said Saunders-Todd in an email.

Looking for money

Not only is the group still running, but Luke is still its executive director, lobbying for funding from government groups to help fund programs within AWEDA to help immigrant women in need gain employment training.

On Aug. 22, 2013, AWEDA renewed its status as a lobbying group for another six months. The group has been registered with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbyists of Canada since June 25, 2009.

Saunders-Todd was involved with AWEDA in 2008, and her surprise stems from the knowledge that she was one of two people who saw the group close in 2008.

On May 3, 2008 the All Women’s Empowerment and Development Association (AWEDA) was given a $142,700 grant from the Status of Women in Canada. Six months later, problems with AWEDA became public after its executive director, Rosamond Luke, was suspended for not being open about her past history, including charges against her in 2006 for uttering threats. A few days after Luke was suspended, Brenda Saunders-Todd, now former AWEDA Board Chair, discovered that most of the group’s money was gone.

According to Saunders-Todd, the group closed shortly after she and Dr. Patricia Glazebrook, another former board member, discovered that, after taxes, the group had only $2,300 left.

AWEDA closes

Shortly after Saunders-Todd and Patricia Glazebrook, a former AWEDA director, suspended Luke they began to look at the group’s money and spending records. According to court records, after the two went to Credit Union Atlantic to look into AWEDA’s spending and money owed was paid to Revenue Canada, the group did not have enough money to continue, so Saunders-Todd and Glazebrook made a decision to close the organizations doors.

According to court documents, some of the group’s cheques had been made out to cash and others were paid to Luke.

Luke refused to comment, but in an email she denied the accusations against her. “I am doing great and I am blessed and if those accusations were accurate I wont (sic) be here today,” she said.

Because the group closed, the Registry of Joint Stock companies shows that they defaulted for non-payment on Dec. 4, 2008. The group was re-activated the next day, Dec. 5, 2008.

Two days after the group closed, Dec. 6, 2008, it was active and holding its Annual General meeting. Neither Saunders-Todd nor Glazebrook were present. At the meeting, Luke was re-instated as executive director by a newly appointed board of directors. This action, according to Saunders-Todd, was not legal.

According to the Societies Act, any change in a group’s board of directors must be filed within 14 days of any changes. At the time, no change had been filed when Luke was re-instated. The change of directors was filed Dec. 10, 2008.

Government audit

On January 14, 2009, Saunders-Todd received a letter from the Status of Women in Canada that it was looking into performing an audit on the groups use of the grant money. Luke also received a similar letter.

According to Saunders-Todd, Status of Women determined that the audit would cost too much, and “they would not be able to recover the funds.” Status of Women was not able to comment in time for publication.

Court Cases

In a small claims court case, Luke made claims against Saunders-Todd, Glazebrook and Grant Machum, asking that AWEDA property be returned and claiming for personal items that Luke also claimed had been taken. The first hearing for the case was on February 17, 2009.

On February 18, 2009, the day after the small claims court case was first heard, Luke was accused of stealing from the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC). According to court records, Luke was charged with possession of stolen property on Oct. 28, 2010.

The small claims court judge dismissed the two claims and Luke was ordered to pay Machum for the costs of the case, $848.79.

Despite the initial ruling, Luke tried to appeal the case on October 10, 2009. She claimed that the judge, Judge Walter Thompson, was biased, because he had a connection to Credit Union Atlantic, the bank where AWEDA had its account. Peter Bellworthy, the Credit Union vice president, was a witness in the first court case, and Luke claimed bias because the Judge Thompson and Bellworthy knew each other, and so Thompson had personal interest in the matter.

Luke also tried to appeal for bias, because Thompson said that AWEDA was not a corporation, but, according to the earlier court document, AWEDA was not a corporation, because the guidelines and bylaws of the group were not being followed in September 2008.

The Supreme Court judge dismissed Luke’s appeal, and no other court cases were filed.

Raising concerns

Saunders-Todd is not the only one who questions the group’s status. Colin MacDonald, a former volunteer fundraiser and former patron of the group also did not know the group was still active.

MacDonald was involved with AWEDA when it was in the planning stages. He donated money and encouraged others to as well. Looking back, he regrets his actions.

When the group first began in 2005, it was funded by donations from patrons like Colin MacDonald, a former fundraiser and patron of the group, who was involved with AWEDA during its planning stages.

He distanced himself from the group after he began to disagree with how the group was using money. “There was some things I didn’t agree with which entailed spending money on issues that I just found very difficult to believe that they needed; expensive office space, etc.,” said MacDonald.

MacDonald offers this caution when it comes to AWEDA, “I was stupid enough to give funding to the group to begin with,” he said. He did all he could for AWEDA, before he walked away from the group.

Leading a group

Saunders-Todd is no longer in contact with Luke or AWEDA, but she currently works with Dress for Success Halifax, a community group that helps women in need find clothes for job interviews and tools to help them get jobs. For her, it’s important to know who is leading a charity.

“I think it’s extremely important to know ‘who’ is leading or running these groups,” she said in an email.

Over the last 18 years, few people have returned to provincial court to be formally charged a second time, after not living up to their agreement to complete adult diversion Continue reading Few people are dismissed from post-charge alternative diversion program in Nova Scotia →

A Nova Scotia doctor is facing charges of fraud and forgery, but this is not his first brush with the law. Dr. Dinesh Sinha (Sihn-Ha), who was arrested in connection with a pot bust last year, will appear in court on August 27on unrelated charges. He is accused of creating false records and billing the province for work that he did not do.

Sinha’s lawyer did not return phone calls so it is unclear how these charges came about, but the provincial government does do random checks to ensure that doctors are billing the province accurately. When asked about the charges, Sinha said that he had no comment.

College of Physicians and Surgeons lifts suspension

When Sinha was arrested on December 14, 2012, he was charged with selling prescriptions for medical marijuana. His license to practice medicine was temporarily suspended by the board in charge of disciplining doctors in Nova Scotia. In a phone interview, Dr. Douglas Grant, CEO of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia, said, “the suspension was lifted when the committee came to an agreement that the public safety concern had been addressed.” The charge against Sinha for selling medical marijuana prescriptions was eventually dropped.

The college has chosen not to suspend Sinha’s license again in view of these new charges of fraud and forgery. Grant would not comment on the new charges but he did say that the college will wait for the criminal proceedings to play out; then it will determine whether or not further action should be taken. The most serious penalty the college can impose is to revoke or annul a doctor’s license.

Physicians and medical marijuana laws

Sinha is not the first doctor to be nabbed by the long arm of the law in relation to medical marijuana prescriptions. Dr. Rob Kamermans was charged with selling medical marijuana prescriptions and accused of over-prescribing cannabis. He is allowed to practice, but is now restricted from prescribing pot.

In an exclusive interview, Sinha said that he would no longer prescribe medical marijuana despite being a firm believer in its benefits. That interview was conducted before he was confronted about the new charges.

Canada’s medical marijuana laws constantly changing

Canada started offering medical marijuana in 2001. Since then the medical marijuana laws have undergone several changes.

As it stands, patients who are prescribed medical marijuana by a physician have only two options: they can either apply to the government for a license to grow marijuana or they can get their prescribed marijuana from an already licensed grower.

Sinha wonders why the RCMP is so worried about marijuana. He says patients who use drugs like Demerol and morphine are at greater risk of developing addictions than those using marijuana, yet law enforcement does not seem to be concerned with how those drugs are being prescribed or used.

Sinha believes that seeing arrests and charges connected to medical marijuana will discourage doctors like him from prescribing marijuana, even though it may be a safer and more effective treatment for some patients such as those suffering from epilepsy, cancer, anorexia, and other ailments.

However, the number of medical marijuana users actually increased by 104 per cent between January and December 2012 and the number of people licensed to grow it has increased significantly as well.

What’s next for marijuana legislation?

Marijuana has been making headlines recently as Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau publicly advocated for  legalizing the drug. Sinha is on the same page: “Alcohol is much more dangerous than marijuana, yet it is openly sold. I do not understand why the government is so picky about it [marijuana].”

Increasing silver sales is the focus for jewelry giant Tiffany & Co. this year. According to the company’s quarterly report, overall sales are up 9 per cent but silver sales are lagging.

High-end jewelry sells well, silver lags

Tiffany’s more expensive products, which are mostly necklaces and rings made of rare coloured diamonds encased in platinum, are meeting sales goals. On the other hand, silver jewelry, which makes up most of Tiffany’s cheaper products in the form of rings, necklaces and pendants, is selling poorly compared to a few years ago, according to Mark Aaron, Tiffany’s Vice-President of Investor Relations.

In an attempt to improve silver sales, the company is creating and promoting new, elaborate silver items. Some of the new products that landed on shelves this spring include the Ziegfeld collection, which contains several silver items made with freshwater pearls and onyx. Aaron says that these new products have a higher price tag than previous silver pieces. He hopes that when the second quarter report comes out later this month, it will show an increase in profit from silver sales.

Aaron noted that in the past, silver jewelry accounted for a quarter of Tiffany’s sales. He says the company would like to get back to meeting that target. In 2012, silver sales accounted for 21 per cent of the company’s total sales.

Is counterfeiting a contributing factor?

In Tiffany’s 2012 annual report, shareholders were advised that the company has been involved in lawsuits with groups and companies who have been making and selling counterfeit Tiffany products. Most counterfeit Tiffany products are made of silver. Coincidentally, this is also the area where Tiffany is lagging in sales. In the 2012 annual report, Tiffany voiced concerns about the impact counterfeiting could have on the company:

“In recent years, there has been an increase in the availability of counterfeit goods, predominantly silver jewelry, in various markets by street vendors and small retailers, as well as on the Internet. The continued sale of counterfeit merchandise could have an adverse effect on the TIFFANY & CO. brand by undermining Tiffany’s reputation for quality goods and making such goods appear less desirable to consumers of luxury goods. Damage to the Brand would result in lost sales and profits.”

 Wayne Edwards, Chair of the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network, says a lot of companies don’t want to talk about counterfeit goods. He says companies don’t want consumers to associate their products with counterfeiting because they may choose to go elsewhere out of fear of not knowing whether they are buying real or counterfeit items.

Edwards also adds that it is difficult for companies like Tiffany to give statistics about counterfeiting. He says everyone knows counterfeit products exist, but that it is difficult to say how prevalent they are or how much they affect sales. The network released a report last year, which states “counterfeiting is responsible for billions of dollars in losses to the Canadian economy.” The federal government introduced new anti-counterfeiting legislation earlier this year, but Edwards says more changes are necessary to deter those making and selling counterfeit products.

Fighting counterfeiting

Groups like the Canadian Anti-Counterfeiting Network, based in Toronto, focus on raising awareness about counterfeit goods. They hold seminars and also offer training to groups like the RCMP about identifying counterfeit products.

Edwards offers some simple advice to consumers, “If the price of something, whether it’s a designer ring or an electrical part, seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

Betty Bauman’s phone bill nearly doubled in April, but it was worth every penny to hear the joy and surprise in the voices of widows across Nova Scotia, she said in a phone interview.

Bauman’s first husband had only been working for six weeks at a coal mine when he died as the result of a rock fall over fifty years ago. As a 26-year old widow with three young daughters to raise, Bauman simply did not have time to grieve. She moved to Ontario where she focused on working and raising her family. She was also re-married briefly. It was only  when she moved back to Nova Scotia twenty-one years later that she finally got her first chance to really mourn her loss.

Satisfaction for widows across the province

For years, a group of widows has been fighting to change the provincial law governing widow’s workers compensation for those who lost their husbands in workplace accidents. That is why it was so satisfying for Bauman to call the other women to tell them they would be getting around $110,000 in back pay. Bauman says they were all thrilled, but many of them were filled with disbelief. “I said: ‘Well, it’s happening, believe it!’” said Bauman matter-of-factly.

A long battle

Before 1999, widows who remarried no longer received their survivor’s pensions. In the 1990s, several widows protested that this law violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, specifically, the section based on equality, which prohibits discrimination.

In 1999, the law was changed because it discriminated based on marital status. While the change was encouraging, there was a catch; women who remarried before 1985, when the section on equality was added to the constitution, were excluded. This meant that widows like Bauman would only receive compensation from 1999 onwards. She did not think it was fair for them not to be compensated simply because they had remarried.

In the following years, Bauman led the other widows in a campaign to change the law–writing letters, calling politicians, and pleading with community leaders. In 2000, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled in favour of compensating the widows. However, the government at the time, led by former premier John Hamm, appealed and the decision was overturned. It was a big letdown for the widows who had been granted their wish, only to have it snatched away.

Support and a new bill

Bauman finally found a supporter in Frank Corbett, the Minister of Labour and Advancement Education in Nova Scotia.  She received a call from Corbett the second week of April asking if she and some of the other widows could make a trip to Halifax on the 19th. He told her not to let on to anyone except the widows she was bringing with her that there would be an announcement. Bauman called a few of the other women. “I said, ‘Look, we’ve got to go to the legislature on the 19^th, but you’ve got to promise me that you won’t say a word to anybody. If you do, I’ll kill you!’” she recalled, with a chuckle. Seven widows made it to Halifax to hear an emotional Corbett announce that they would be getting the compensation. A week later the bill was officially passed. The women were thrilled.

Bauman, who will turn 80 next year, says that her late husband often told her that she was too strong and independent. But she’s pretty sure that he would be proud of how she used her strength and independence to tirelessly fight for her cause.