The Opposition is coming down hard on Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation, accusing the provincial department of breaking the law in failing to provide needed information to the Auditor General.

The AG released her report into why methylmercury mitigation didn’t occur prior to the flooding of the Muskrat Falls reservoir.

She found that the current office of Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation did not accept the criteria of her audit as suitable and that senior management also did not acknowledge their responsibility for the audit subject matter and terms of the audit including objective, scope and approach.

Opposition Leader David Brazil contends that the premier “has a problem on his hands” accusing the department of “actively antagonizing the Auditor General” on Indigenous concerns over methylmercury.

Auditor General Denise Hanrahan concluded there was no evidence that was done on purpose, but the PC’s David Brazil isn’t so sure.

He says the evidence suggests there was a deliberate attempt to slow down the process to the point where government could say it was approved but there was not enough time to complete the work.

Dinn Reacts

The NDP’s Jim Dinn says it’s become an issue of trust.

He says it cost taxpayers about $30 million to compensate Indigenous groups for failing to cap the wetlands, compared to the $5-6 million estimated to do the capping.

The falldowns occurred in 2018 when the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment was going through three ministers. Andrew Parsons had taken over from Graham Letto, who took over from Eddie Joyce, who was booted from caucus over harassment allegations.

Meanwhile, the government issued a statement, saying it will take some time to review the report in detail before commenting.

Officials did note that regular monitoring of methylmercury levels continues, adding at no time have they presented a risk to public health.