Yukon's Raven ReCentre complains to ombudsman, saying it was dropped from gov't contract without warning

Raven ReCentre is complaining to the Yukon's ombudsman, saying the territorial government excluded the non-profit from a contract for processing some of the territory's recyclables, "without notice or consultation." 

The territory, however, says Raven knew about the change last summer and effectively agreed to it.

According to Raven ReCentre's executive director Shannon Powell, the contract to process recycling from the communities was ended in October.

"The community truck stopped coming to Raven [ReCentre]," Powell said. "We've been trying to communicate with [the department of] Community Services on why that is, and to clarify that we still want to service the communities."

For over three decades, Raven ReCentre has taken the territory's recycling — a good portion of it coming from outside of Whitehorse — processed it and shipped it down south. Any recyclable materials that didn't go to Raven would go to another processor in Whitehorse, P&M Recycling. 

Powell said the response from the department of Community Services has been minimal.

"We just were told that that material was all going to the other processor now," she said. 

Powell said she filed an access to information request to try to get some clarity.

"We found out that the government quietly took us off that contract on Oct. 21, without our knowledge," she said. "And we had had communications after that time stamp and they never even told us — even when we were still referencing, 'hey, we're in this contract.'"

Powell said now the contract states that all community recycling depots are to send their materials to P&M Recycling.

That means less revenue for Raven to put back into the facility's operations, staff wages, and community events. She said if they are no longer bringing the same money in, cuts will have to be made.

The territorial government did not agree to an interview with CBC News, and instead sent copies of correspondence between Community Services and Powell's predecessor at Raven last year.

In one email last May, Raven's former executive director Heather Ashthorn acknowledged that the non-profit was no longer accepting paper or cardboard, but only refundable bottles and cans, and was not prepared to sort all the material that arrives by truck from the communities.

"I imagine you will now be sending both materials to P&M Recycling," Ashthorn wrote.

She also confirmed in that email that "we are only giving up our role as a process for paper and packaging, not for BCR [beverage containers], textiles or ewaste." 

Raven initially said that Yukon's ombudsman was investigating, but later walked that back to say that the ombudsman's office was still assessing the complaint. 

Yukon's ombudsman Jason Pedlar then took the rare step on Wednesday of confirming that his office had received a complaint.

"We determine whether we have jurisdiction, whether or not there is enough from an unfairness perspective, is there enough to investigate," he said.

"Our ombudsman investigations are confidential so we don't typically release anything publicly or even acknowledge whether we've received a complaint one way or the other."