Indigenous workshop facilitators frustrated at months-long wait for pay after presentation at youth protection

Two Indigenous workshop facilitators were left frustrated and disappointed after waiting months for a paycheque for theirs services in the Quebec health-care sector.

A member at the Batshaw Youth and Family Centres contacted Dominick Mikkelson and Tealey Ka'senni:saks Normandin in January to facilitate a Kairos blanket exercise workshop that explores the nation-to-nation relationship between Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people in Canada.

The duo said they submitted their invoices to the West Island health and social services (CIUSS-OIL) before the presentation in March and presented the workshop over two days in May.

Then began the weeks of emails, replies, re-requests for paperwork and calls while the two presenters waited for payment.

"They are so disorganized and lack communication skills," said Normandin. "We, or anybody else, should not have to run after for our payments. Horrible and disrespectful. Unprofessional."

On July 12, after four months of calls and emails, Batshaw and the CIUSSS told Mikkelson that he would be paid by email.

The CIUSSS told CTV News on July 19 that the invoice was processed.

Though he's relieved to finally get paid, the whole ordeal left a bad taste in Mikkelson's mouth.

"This is just super frustrating for me," he said. "I've got bills and rent due, and it's been nothing but a nightmare."

Normandin was paid on July 5.

Milkkelson said he took a leave of absence from his work and was depending on contract work to cover his daily expenses over the period. The stress over sending emails and making calls, he said, could have been spend on the actual work he does.

The two have worked with other government offices, hospitals and community centres and typically received payment in between two weeks and a month.

Mikkelson said it's disappointing because he and Normandin facilitate the blanket exercise with the hopes of creating connections between Indigenous people and Quebec organizations like the CIUSSS or Batshaw.

"It's rough because we're trying to open that door with reconciliation," said Mikkelson. "We're trying to build a relationship with these organizations and we're not getting anywhere because all we're facing is just bureaucracy. We want to work with organizations, open that door and collaborate, but when things like this are being faced, it just slams the door closed, nobody wants to work. I don't know anybody in the Indigenous community that would want to work with an organization that you know, just slaps you in the face."

The exercise was delivered to managers and social workers in the youth protection system that, Mikkelson said, would help them interact with Indigenous youth at Batshaw.

Normandin said she had had similar experiences in the past with other organizations and that it feels like the red tape, bureaucracy, and miscommunication take a lot out of her.

"I'm building the bridge. There's a bridge here now that we can open this communication and work together," said Normandin. "But it just steals a part of me, like, I'm being disrespected, I'm being pushed aside."

Normandin is a '60s Scoop survivor who was taken from her Indigenous community and placed with a non-Indigenous family.

She emphasized that the payroll ordeal affects more than just her and she fears it could discourage other talented facilitators from working with Quebec institutions.

"It's not just me; definitely I don't want to make this about me," she said. "It's about us. It's about the young Indigenous facilitators that are rising up. It's about having a voice so that they don't get treated like this. It's about change. You know, reconciliation is about change."

Normandin said institutions need to do their part of the work and make sure all paperwork is done before a team is brought in.

"Don't throw it on us, for us to be continuously emailing and saying, 'Hey! Where's my pay?'" she said. "I'm sure everybody that's working in these organizations, they're getting paid every two weeks, and if they stopped paying their employees every two weeks, there would be a big uproar. So why aren't we getting the same respect?"