Not fair there.... Chief Bernard

So I guess the main question here is where was Chief Darlene Bernard and the Lennox Island Mi'kmaq Band members and rest of the Shareholders of the Company today????

I know where Bobby Jamieson and all the other hard working sub trades that built the project with "their" own money where... they were there looking for answers from Chief Bernard and the Band Council who should have been there themselves with some kind of a proposal in place for the small creditors or at the very least to explain themselves...

Surely the Band Council are going to come forward with something for the small creditors prior to any further production at that facility or is it just going to end up in the same hands at the cost of the small hard working sub contractor some of whom may not survive ... it doesn't seem fair!!!

If the Lennox Island Mi'kmaq Band doesn't have a legal responsibility to pay Minigoo's bills don't they have a moral one as I'm sure if the shoe was on the other foot they'd be at the front of the line.... and if you don't believe me just ask Jack MacAndrew!

Minigoo creditors find cupboard is bare
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
CBC News
Creditors of the failed Minigoo Fisheries in P.E.I. found out Tuesday there is virtually no money left to pay them the millions they are owed collectively.

Minigoo Fisheries, the only entirely native-owned lobster processing plant in the Maritimes, filed for bankruptcy in August after operating for just four months.

The company, owned by the Lennox Island Mi'kmaq band, owes creditors $5.8 million, according to documents received from the Superintendent of Bankruptcies in Halifax.

The Bank of Montreal is the largest creditor and is owed about $2.7 million. Even after the bank sells of Minigoo's assets, it will still be out approximately $1.6 million, according to trustee Grant Thornton's report.

Thornton staff met with the creditors behind closed doors Tuesday in Summerside.

Aaron Gallant, co-owner of Watertight Pumping and Heating, was responsible for the plumbing at Minigoo Fisheries. His unpaid bill is about $55,000.

"They told me what to do, I did it. I did what they said, I did what the managers said to the best of my ability," he told CBC News on Tuesday.

"I don't know what else we could have done different."

The lobster processing plant on Lennox Island, on the north coast of P.E.I., opened on May 1. The company was the pride of Lennox Island Chief Darlene Bernard, who said at the time it represented a prosperous future for her people.

Bernard was not at the creditors' meeting Tuesday.

In the months that it was open, Minigoo Fisheries operated at a loss of $1.2 million.

Danny Tweel, who represented several creditors at the meeting, said there was a litany of management problems at the plant. Tweel said one of his clients told him the plant threw out $85,000 worth of lobster on one occasion.

"They'd frozen it raw, didn't put it in proper saline solution and then, when they opened it up to process, it wasn't processable," he said. Minigoo Fisheries is owned by the Lennox Island Mi'kmaq band. (CBC)

"That sort of thing leads to a situation that shows that there's obviously a lack of planning or proper management."

The trustee acknowledged that creditors who are owed money will incur substantial losses because of Minigoo's bankruptcy and said it may have dire consequences on their businesses.

Bobby Jamieson, owner of Jamieson Electric and Refrigeration, installed the refrigeration units at the plant and is owed $182,000.

"We paid all our people for working up there. We paid all our suppliers and we're going to continue to do that," he said after the meeting.

"We're not like them. Our company is not like theirs, we're going to pay our bills. They don't pay theirs."