Financial statements out

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake is in a strong financial position, according to director of Financial Services Nikola Mirkovic after a recent annual audit of the organization’s consolidated finances was released to the community last week.

“We’re in a very, very good standing,” said Mirkovic.

The consolidated financial statements, which can be viewed on the Finance page of MCK’s website, provides a snapshot of the community’s finances as of March 31 of this year.

The document details the financial assets and liabilities held by MCK. It touches on revenue, program expenses, surpluses, and investments.

Mirkovic said that there are some key differences between last year and this year - for instance, the MCK now invests more as a result of its contributions to the growing Sovereign Wealth Fund, and there’s also an increase in capital assets that will go towards covering the cost of Kahnawake’s new Multipurpose Building.

The total financial assets are at around $385 million, with the total liabilities around $104 million.

That leaves the net financial assets for the organization at around $280 million - about $30 million more than the previous year.

Mirkovic said that the organization reports are in line with public sector accounting standards, which are a specific set of standards laid out for government bodies and public entities.

The auditing process, which was completed by MNP, a major independent firm that has audited the MCK for many years, sees professional auditors go through all of the organization’s transactions to ensure it’s accounting is in line with those standards.

Also included from MNP is a review of the remuneration and expenses incurred by MCK chiefs for the year ending March 31, 2025. That document includes the salaries and expenses of all chiefs, as well as the number of months they worked.

MCK grand chief Cody Diabo received the highest remuneration at just over $120,000, also incurring about $10,500 worth of expenses. Diabo worked for a total of 12 months of the past year, as did MCK chiefs Ryan Montour, Arnold Boyer, Ross Montour, Iohahiio Delisle, and Stephen McComber, who all earned just under $100,000. MCK chiefs Jeffrey Diabo, David Diabo, Jeremiah Johnson, Melanie Morrison, and Paul Rice, who were all elected last summer, earned salaries in the range of $57,000 to just under $80,000, having worked for nine months.

Former MCK chiefs who did not serve another term in office after the election include Lindsay Leborgne, Harry Rice, and Jessica Lazare, who each earned around $30,000, having worked three months of the year covered in the report.

The document providing exact salaries and expenses of each MCK chief is also available to view on the MCK website.

“It’s a testament to the work that’s done at the MCK between all the departments with our finance division, and our transparency to the community to show that the money is there and it’s being spent properly,” said MCK grand chief Cody Diabo. “The checks and balances that we have in place again show another successful year for the community and we’re looking forward to many more in the future.”

Extensive documentation needed to be provided to MNP so it could conduct a thorough independent audit, and Mirkovic said he’s happy with how the process was run, ensuring that MCK continued its track record of never missing a deadline to file its consolidated financial statements with Indigenous Services Canada (ISC).

“The auditing process is a long process, it’s very demanding, and the accounting and finance units work very hard and long hours to support all that backup, because MCK as an organization is huge and complicated,” he said. “It’s a lot of work but we get it done every year, and we get it done before the deadline.”

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