Former executive director suing Friendship Centre
An explosive lawsuit has been filed against the Ooknakane Friendship Centre by its former executive director, who claims he was fired as part of a witch hunt based in part on his non-Indigenous status.
Matthew “Chewy” Baran, who also claims to be owed 18 months’ severance and a $50,000 bonus representing 1% of a $5-million grant he obtained for OFC, filed his notice of claim March 7 in B.C. Supreme Court in Penticton.
According to the lawsuit, Baran served as OFC executive director from November 2020 through August 2022. He earned $87,120 per year, plus benefits, “and a 1% bonus on funding commitments secured for OFC during his tenure.”
Baran claims he tendered his resignation in August 2022 and “asserted a claim for constructive dismissal” at the same time.
The plot to get rid of him was set in motion, he alleges, on Dec. 17, 2021, when Baran received a complaint from an employee “raising allegations of sexual inappropriate conduct and/or comments” made to that employee by Bruce Manuel, chair of the OFC board.
Baran claims he hired an outside investigator and then took a leave of absence to care for his ailing mother.
When he checked in with the investigator in January 2022, Baran claims, he learned the probe had been redirected to examine Baran’s own performance as executive director, in particular his handling of OFC’s finances.
“The investigator advised the plaintiff that as a result of the investigation, that there were absolutely no findings of wrongdoing whatsoever related to the plaintiff’s performance procedurally or in his financial management of OFC as executive director,” adds the lawsuit.
“According to the investigator, the same could not be reported for the OFC board of directors, although the plaintiff was never provided a copy of that investigation report.”
Baran claims the investigator’s final report into the sexual harassment allegation was due in February 2022 but was never completed and the investigation “stagnated.”
“While the investigation was stagnated, the plaintiff was subjected to numerous false rumours about his purported unethical or financially irresponsibility, without any merit whatsoever, significantly damaging the plaintiff’s community and non-profit service reputation, which had been built up over a… 25-five-year period, particularly in the First Nations community where the plaintiff had been a community champion and advocate of causes like homelessness, addiction and mental health, despite not being of First Nations origin.”
The lawsuit goes on to allege the damage to Baran’s reputation “was orchestrated as a means to undermine the plaintiff, to either force his resignation or to draw attention to the real issues uncovered as a part of the investigation into the sexual harassment complaint and/or concerns about the ethical and financial operations of OFC, particularly as related to inflated salaries of the board of directors, but also as a concerted means to eliminate all employees not of First Nations origin from OFC and to focus OFC as a non-profit that exclusively serviced the First Nations communities and was fully employed and managed by First Nations individuals.”
Baran claims he took a medical leave of absence in February 2022 and, prior to him resigning in August 2022, someone “ransacked” his office and removed a copy of his signed employment agreement.
“This employment agreement provided for 18 months’ notice of termination without cause,” states the lawsuit.
The contract also allegedly contained a provision granting Baran “a 1% bonus on funding commitments secured for OFC during his tenure.” Baran claims he secured a $5-million commitment on Dec. 3, 2021, but never saw his $50,000 cut. The lawsuit does not provide any details of the $5-million grant.
All of that amounts to a fundamental breach of his employment contract, alleges Baran, who’s seeking unspecified damages.
“OFC has and continues to cause the plaintiff mental anguish and suffering as a result of the high-handed manner of the investigation, the board’s conduct in the investigation, its retaliation against the plaintiff and for knowing that such rumour-mongering was designed and did actually cause harm to the plaintiff for which OFC is liable,” concludes the lawsuit.
Neither the OFC board nor its new executive director responded to The Herald’s requests for comment.
The Herald in August 2022 published an article based on Baran’s resignation letter, which contained many of the same allegations detailed in the lawsuit.
In response to that article, the OFC stated: “The Ooknakane Friendship Centre owes obligations of privacy to its employees and does not comment publicly about personnel matters. However, we do take all allegations of wrongdoing seriously, and will actively investigate all such allegations that we receive from our employees and community members.
“For clarification, the fact that we are unable to comment on the matters… should not be construed as a confirmation of or comment on the substance of any allegations that may have been made.
“The Ooknakane Friendship Centre wishes Mr. Baran success in his future endeavors.”
Baran suggested in his resignation letter that during his time at the helm he helped pull the organization out of third-party management, doubled the number of programs offered, increased its number of clients and tripled its operating budget.
The OFC reported total revenue of $1.3 million in 2022, while expenses tallied $1.2 million, about half of which went to wages for 14 employees, according to its listing in a charity database maintained by the Canada Revenue Agency.
The database also states OFC’s directors were not compensated financially, contrary to Baran’s claim.
On the centre’s own website, it claims 92% of its funding comes from public sources, such as the Ministry of Children and Family Development, B.C. Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres and Interior Health.
The centre’s programs, which are run out of an office on Ellis Street in downtown Penticton, range from elder care and a food truck that serves homeless people to counselling and law advocacy.
The OFC is also set to branch out into housing by partnering with ASK Wellness Society to operate a 54-unit supportive housing facility, which will cater to Indigenous people on the road to recovery from addictions, currently under construction on Skaha Lake Road. The project is being funded by BC Housing.