OCA Trillium Report (term used loosely)

[Peter McKillop]

No offence taken, Aris. I was vice president of the OCA during the 2001/02 period. Otherwise, I've had no involvement with the OCA other than as a member. Kerry is correct. I let my CFC/OCA memberships lapse in December, 2008.

And you are absolutely correct, Aris, when you say that the questions I've asked "...should have been thought of (by any of the various investigative attempts) long ago." These same questions were asked by me long ago. They're not hard questions. Either the OCA has the information needed to make a proper report on the Trillium matter, or they don't. If they do, then let's see that proper report. If they don't, then where did that information go?

A long time ago (well over a year I think), either here or on ChessTalk, someone (I think it was Chris Mallon) said that the OCA did not have any of the Trillium grant documentation. It was presumed that someone (?) had taken it all. Further, if I remember correctly, Chris said that the Trillium Foundation had rebuffed their attempts to obtain copies of the documentation. What gives with that? It sounds irregular to say the least.

Question for Chris Mallon: are you, or is one of the OCA's officers, in possession of the Trillium grant documentation?

This whole business smells very badly: missing documentation, no one except the key individual even knows what the so-called project entailed, the Trillium Foundation refuses to provide copies of the documentation to the OCA. Almost makes one wonder if a complaint should be filed with the York Regional Police.

[Tony Ficzere]

I am very surprised to hear this. Missing documentation from a provincial grant?!

Here in Alberta we get many provincial grants. If we fail to provide all our receipts in a timely fashion, we simply get cut off. End of story. I would think that the paper pushers at Trillium would be wanting to cover their own buts here.

And its not just a matter of providing receipts. The money has to be spent on approved expenditures. You can't just take the money and buy a boat, or take a holiday!

If this sort of thing happened here in Alberta, the person would be up on criminal charges.

[Peter McKillop]

Jeez, you Westerners are awful nosy, aren't ya?

The thing that gets me, Tony, is that except for a small handful of people there is no outrage here. Nobody seems to give a damn, as clearly demonstrated by successive generations of do-nothing OCA executives. And the biggest do-nothing exec is the one who promised a full scale report for the OCA's 2009 AGM: Eric Van Dusen. We're talking about 120 freaking grand!!. If the OCA could save up all of its dues every year it would take almost 20 years to accumulate this amount. And yet only a small number of people are even interested.

And what about the Trillium Foundation? Does it seem likely that they would approve a grant that was going to,

From the Trillium Foundation's website:

Ontario Chess Association Inc.
$120,000 over two years to pilot an integrated chess program in York Region, which will provide children and youth with an alternative recreational experience and build their critical thinking and tactical skills.

if they thought that more than 75% of the grant was going to be paid out in salaries & wages, allegedly to just one person?

Unbelievable! Get up on your hind legs, Chris Mallon, and do something right.

[Kerry Liles]

Jeez, you Westerners are awful nosy, aren't ya?

The thing that gets me, Tony, is that except for a small handful of people there is no outrage here. Nobody seems to give a damn, as clearly demonstrated by successive generations of do-nothing OCA executives. And the biggest do-nothing exec is the one who promised a full scale report for the OCA's 2009 AGM: Eric Van Dusen. We're talking about 120 freaking grand!!. If the OCA could save up all of its dues every year it would take almost 20 years to accumulate this amount. And yet only a small number of people are even interested.

And what about the Trillium Foundation? Does it seem likely that they would approve a grant that was going to,

From the Trillium Foundation's website:

Ontario Chess Association Inc.
$120,000 over two years to pilot an integrated chess program in York Region, which will provide children and youth with an alternative recreational experience and build their critical thinking and tactical skills.

if they thought that more than 75% of the grant was going to be paid out in salaries & wages, allegedly to just one person?

Unbelievable! Get up on your hind legs, Chris Mallon, and do something right.

Peter, it may be worthwhile to state (or re-iterate, if that is the case) what exactly you would like to see happen. I recall you mentioned some time ago that you intended to forward the OCA's report to your MPP (although it might be somewhat embarrassing to send what appears to be 'the report' as we have it). Aside from that action, what exactly can be done?

It would *seem* that Trillium actually places very few constraints on their grant money and it also appears that they are satisfied that the grant was used as it was intended (otherwise one would think THEY would be pursuing the matter and as far as I know, they are not).

I would imagine that your MPP might fire off a query to Trillium and they very well might reply that they are satisfied and therefore your MPP should not get his knickers in a twist. I would expect that would be the end of that.

The OCA can hardly mount a legal action to recover any of the money (it isn't clear to me that such action would have the faintest hope in hell of being a success - just IMHO).

Even when I was part of the OCA Executive, and was frustrated by the lack of information, I could not see any reasonable course of action other than to make sure Barry T. was not in a position to influence the OCA policy or actions (that is why I accepted a post on the OCA Executive - my reasons for subsequently resigning that post have nothing to do with the Trillium Grant).

I wish the OCA could produce a report containing much more solid information, but it seems that is not the case.

[Peter McKillop]

I'll get back to you on this, Kerry. First I want to see what I can dredge up from archives here and at ChessTalk. I'm certain that someone (I think it was C. Mallon but I could be wrong) stated here or at ChessTalk that:

1. a third person (guess who?) had taken all of the OCA's Trillium documentation and would not return it to the OCA;
2. the Trillium Foundation would not provide any copies of the grant documentation to the OCA.

Now, if the above is correct then this is definitely not a normal situation and raises some obvious questions. Why would "someone" take all of the OCA's grant docs and then refuse to return them? Why would Trillium refuse to provide copies of documents to the OCA? I could see them charging a fee for the copying, but, refusing to give copies to an entity to whom you've already given $120k? Convince me that this is normal behaviour. I intend to puruse this until there are some acceptable answers to my questions.

[Peter McKillop]

And another thing, Kerry - why the hell aren't we, the chessplayers of Ontario, from whom the freaking CFC extorts $7 every year to fill the pockets of the OCA, entitled to a full accounting of what happened to that money?? Every freaking penny of it !!!! I don't intend to stop until that full accounting has been made public. Some freaking jackass pockets $91,000 to do what?? The Trillium Foundation should have an obligation to be transparent in its dealings and I'd be willing to bet some money that it does. Can you imagine the p.r. scandal if Trillium's motto was something like: "We're Giving Away Ontarians Hard-Earned Tax Dollars And You'll Never Be Able To Find Out Where." I think my MPP will be able to get a lot more than a shoo-go-away response.

[Christopher Mallon]

Unbelievable! Get up on your hind legs, Chris Mallon, and do something right.

What exactly do you want me to do?

After the 2008 AGM, most people present were unhappily convinced that we had done what we could do, which was to get BT off the OCA Exec. Some wanted more, the most vocal of which was Eric Van Dusen, and so I agreed to let him form a committee and even suggested people from SWOCL and GTCL he could contact who had not been involved in the matter to be on the committee with him.

At the 2009 AGM, lingering anger led to BT being barred for life from chess governance in Ontario.

And now we see the "result" of the "investigation."

[Christopher Mallon]

A long time ago (well over a year I think), either here or on ChessTalk, someone (I think it was Chris Mallon) said that the OCA did not have any of the Trillium grant documentation. It was presumed that someone (?) had taken it all.

I don't think I said that publicly (which is probably why you can't find the post) but I was quoted as saying something along those lines.

Further, if I remember correctly, Chris said that the Trillium Foundation had rebuffed their attempts to obtain copies of the documentation. What gives with that? It sounds irregular to say the least.

Pretty sure that was Eric Van Dusen. I told him that I'd be happy to sign any request forms he wanted to fill out - even if Trillium for some reason wouldn't deal with that, a Freedom of Information request is not much money at all. I never heard back from him about that.

Question for Chris Mallon: are you, or is one of the OCA's officers, in possession of the Trillium grant documentation?

No. BT insists to EVD that he gave me the documentation, but I and others have been over every piece of paper he gave me and it is not there. I was also never given the official corporate seal of the OCA (not very useful perhaps, but it DID cost $155). EVD is in fact in possession right now of most of the documents Barry gave to me, including banking records from the old TD account.

This whole business smells very badly: missing documentation, no one except the key individual even knows what the so-called project entailed, the Trillium Foundation refuses to provide copies of the documentation to the OCA. Almost makes one wonder if a complaint should be filed with the York Regional Police.

It was within the mandate of the investigation committee to recommend such an action... but for this type of crime we're well past the statue of limitations. That's why the committee was originally supposed to report over a year ago.

[Kerry Liles]

And another thing, Kerry - why the hell aren't we, the chessplayers of Ontario, from whom the freaking CFC extorts $7 every year to fill the pockets of the OCA, entitled to a full accounting of what happened to that money?? Every freaking penny of it !!!! I don't intend to stop until that full accounting has been made public. Some freaking jackass pockets $91,000 to do what?? The Trillium Foundation should have an obligation to be transparent in its dealings and I'd be willing to bet some money that it does. Can you imagine the p.r. scandal if Trillium's motto was something like: "We're Giving Away Ontarians Hard-Earned Tax Dollars And You'll Never Be Able To Find Out Where." I think my MPP will be able to get a lot more than a shoo-go-away response.

I absolutely agree - I didn't mean to damper the inquiry; merely being my usual pessimistic/realistic. I sure hope this matter is sorted out.

[Peter McKillop]

What exactly do you want me to do? ....

The item below was posted here by Eric Van Dusen on November 13, 2008. Here is something you can do for me: make the agreement executed by the OCA and the Trillium Fund publicly available. I'm assuming that by now, more than 13 months later, someone has actually managed to get off their duff and obtain a copy of the executed agreement from Trillium. Please post it here or at the OCA's website so that anyone who is interested can see it.

Can you do that in a timely fashion? Or should we expect another committee to be struck, perhaps headed up by Eric Van Donothing, with a major report to be tabled at the 2010 AGM?

Hi Peter,

I am assuming that Chris Mallon is so busy that he has not been keeping up with his emails.

Chris Mallon has formed the OCA Action Committee consisting of Michael von Keitz, SWOCL; Eric Van Dusen, EOCA; and Egidijus Zeromskis, GTCL.

The committee will be investigating issues pertaining to the Trillium Fund and the 2006 Canada Closed, both administered by Barry Thorvardson. A report with recommendations will be issued by the OCA Executive by March 2009. Of course, the committee is trying to be efficient as possible but the committee wants to be thorough and fair in its investigation.

With regards to the documentation pertaining to the Trillium Fund, Barry has continued his position that he has turned all documentation to Chris Mallon. As we can see, Chris has not received all of the documentation. All documentation regarding the Trillium Fund is the property of the OCA, as the agreement was between the OCA and the Trillium Fund. I have been in touch with the Trillium Fund and the Project Manager is willing to release the agreement signed between the OCA and the Trillium Fund, but he is not willing to release the reports submitted by Barrry.

Any help you would like to give, Peter is very much appreciated.

Eric Van Dusen
Secretary EOCA
CFC and OCA Governor