Via the native run ICTMN:
The Canadian woman who was allegedly behind a plot to smuggle the son of Muammar el-Qaddafi, the deceased Libyan dictator, into Mexico is a consultant for a business with First Nations connections.
Cynthia Vanier, a principal at Vanier Consulting Ltd. of Mount Forest, Ontario, was arrested by Mexican authorities on November 10 for allegedly masterminding the escape of Saadi el-Qaddafi and his family to a hideaway in Punta Mita, the Canadian Press reported. She is being held in that country.
“Building Bridges from Conflict to Peace” is the company’s motto as advertised on its website, and Vanier is listed as a “Chartered Mediator who has provided Mediation Services to public and private Sector since 1992.” As of November 2010 the site claims that “Vanier Consulting is now registered in the Aboriginal Business Directory (ABD) under the Procurement Strategy for Aboriginal Business (PSAB).”
Attawapiskat First Nation is among the company’s First Nations ties, QMI news agency reported. The community’s finances were put under third-party stewardship last week after its chief pleaded for relief from a severe housing crisis as winter closed in.
“One version of her resume highlights consulting work conducted between the Attawapiskat First Nation, De Beers mining company and the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. The period indicated lists ‘September 2009 – present,’ ” QMI reported, noting that this version of Vanier’s resume had since disappeared from the website and that the current resume does not mention the First Nation. “Her duties included ‘Blockage issues, facilitation of relationship issues with De Beers, community issues, governance.’ ”
The company still features Attawapiskat in a photo gallery on the site.
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Vanier’s family — yes, she is one of those Vaniers, by marriage — says the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous:
He said Ms. Vanier was one-quarter aboriginal and was Cyndy Elder until 2003 when she married his brother Pierre Vanier, whose great uncle was George Vanier, a decorated soldier, diplomat and Canada’s 19th Governor-General.
They settled in Mount Forest, Ont., where they have a business called Vanier Consulting Ltd. Ms. Vanier is a mediator specializing in First Nations issues and has a son and daughter from a previous marriage. Pierre Vanier is a drug and alcohol counselor.
Mr. Vanier said when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, Cyndy and Pierre moved her into their home and cared for her. They also took in a dog so badly injured it needed titanium rods. They named it Titan. “This is the kind of people they are, this is the ‘criminal ringleader’ we’re talking about, rescues a dog that’s been run over by a car,” he said.
