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That year the First Nation, which by the government’s count has 368 members, approved Ottawa’s offer and, early in 2011, the Chief announced the final settlement of the 200-year-old claim for $105 million.

The First Nation, whose members originally lived in the Point Pelee area but were driven out as settlers encroached on their traditional lands and don’t have a designated reserve, plans to develop an urban one in Leamington, Ont.

We are unaware of how ... the budget grew from $260,000 to $500,000

The powwow last summer was meant to celebrate all that; it was considered a “repatriation ceremony” and called Rejuvenation of the Spirit.

But the 129-page audit, a copy of which the National Post obtained from reporter Ellwood Shreve of the Chatham Daily News, is spirit-deadening.

It details an almost total lack of ordinary financial controls — no official budget, for instance, existed for the powwow. All the auditors found was a draft band resolution, dated in April of last year, indicating a budget of $500,000, but the resolution that was actually passed had no dollar value attached to it.

And an audio recording of the council meeting the following month shows councillors discussing a budget of $260,000.

“None of the budgets noted indicate a cost of $500,000,” the auditors say. “We are unaware of how between March 22, 2016 and April 29, 2016, the budget grew from $260,000 to $500,000.”

Almost every aspect of accounting for the powwow costs was deeply flawed.

For instance, after a bank investigation, 99 $50 bills were missing from a powwow deposit, and, the auditors say, “We understand the police have been notified of the alleged theft and are investigating.”