Central Edmonton community league facing ‘significant’ financial loss, launching forensic audit

The Inglewood Community League is trying to get back what it calls a significant amount of money. CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenny has more.

A central Edmonton community league is launching an audit to recover what it says is a significant amount of money lost in the last year and a half.

In a statement made on its website this week, the Inglewood Community League says it’s suffered a number of financial losses and is now in a precarious position, but did not specify exactly how much money had been lost.

The league has since hired a forensic auditor and legal counsel to recoup the funds. It’s also reported the loss to Edmonton police.

The Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues (EFCL) said Inglewood’s treasurer stepped down in the fall amid the financial issues becoming more prominent. The president and vice-president subsequently left their positions last month.

The EFCL, which represents 163 community leagues across the city, is now working on next steps for the league.

“We’ll do a lot of learning … we want to make sure that nobody falls into this situation again, that all the community league boards are really paying attention to the financials and understanding how to catch things before they get bad,” said Laura Cunningham-Shpeley, EFCL executive director.

In a statement to CTV News Edmonton, the Inglewood Community League said it would provide its members with a “comprehensive and transparent accounting of all findings” once its forensic audit is complete.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny