Ex-band employee was sued after filing complaints

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/10/2024 (362 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg woman who is the subject of a lawsuit by Birdtail Sioux First Nation had previously filed two human rights tribunal complaints against the First Nation.

In April 2022, Leah Lazaruk, the former director of education for the Birdtail Sioux First Nation, filed two human rights complaints for discrimination and sexual harassment, her lawyer, Scott Cannon, confirmed.

She is now being sued by Birdtail Sioux for allegedly misappropriating funds while she was employed by the First Nation, allegations that she denies.

“Ms. Lazaruk maintains her defence to all of the allegations made by Birdtail Sioux First Nation in their claim and adamantly denies misappropriating funds and submits that no evidence has been issued evidencing any of the claims made by Birdtail Sioux First Nation,” Cannon wrote in a statement provided to the Sun.

None of the claims have been proven in court.

In May 2023, about a year after filing the human rights complaints, Lazaruk launched a lawsuit against the First Nation and two employees of CM Indigenous Consulting, for damages resulting from unlawful termination.

Lazaruk accuses the consulting firm, which had been contracted by Birdtail Sioux First Nation in December 2022 to review expenditures and payment made from funds received from Indigenous Services Canada, of conspiracy, intentionally altering financial documents and making it look like she was responsible for misappropriating funds.

She was terminated by the First Nation in March 2023 due to allegations she had misappropriated and misallocated funds of the First Nation to herself. In the claim, she argues her termination was an act of retaliation by Birdtail Sioux First Nation for her filing the human rights complaints against it.

Lazaruk’s claim states that the Manitoba First Nations Police investigated the financial transactions and found no wrongdoing on Lazaruk’s part. In its statement of defence, Birdtail Sioux First Nation denies knowledge of the police investigation and denies the allegations of harassment.

The CM Indigenous Consulting employees also deny Lazaruk’s claim in their statement of defence, and in their counterclaim further assert that Lazaruk’s allegation of falsified financial records have defamed the company, resulting in losses to their personal, professional and business reputations.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. The CM Indigenous Consulting employees did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment.

In August 2024, Birdtail Sioux First Nation filed a lawsuit against Lazaruk, accusing her and other defendants, including two members of the First Nation’s council, of misappropriating funds, breach of trust and fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, negligence and conspiracy.

In Lazaruk’s statement of defence to that lawsuit, she denied all of the First Nation’s allegations and argued that the claim should be dismissed.

Meanwhile, since the filing of the August lawsuit, Lazaruk’s lawyer recently told the Sun that his client has struggled with growing her grant writing and project management services business because of public awareness of the allegations against her.

Details of the allegations spread on social media have caused the “court of public opinion to rear its ugly head,” Cannon wrote in a statement.

The lawyer emphasized that Lazaruk has spent her time in Birdtail Sioux First Nation building relationships with several community members and that her efforts over the years have been made toward the betterment of the community and in its best interests.

Previously, Indigenous Services Canada told the Sun that it is aware of the allegations and the department’s assessment and investigation services branch is “in the process of assessing the allegations to determine the next steps.”

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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