Food, electricity bills went unpaid at now-shuttered N.B. special care homes, say staff
Owner Amarjeet Singh Jatana also target of lawsuits in N.B. and P.E.I.
Bills for food, waste services and electricity went unpaid in the months leading up to the forced closure of two New Brunswick special care homes, according to current and former employees, and one company that cut business ties with the homes last year.
The allegations come against a backdrop of multiple lawsuits launched against the owner of the homes, claiming he owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in connection with his other business ventures.
Amarjeet Singh Jatana is listed in the New Brunswick corporate registry as the sole director of Villa Neguac and Foyer St. Bernard, two special care homes in Neguac that had their licences revoked last week by the Department of Social Development.
The department says the move was done to protect the well-being of the 29 residents after an investigation found the two homes in northeastern New Brunswick weren't in compliance with established standards and practices.
Amarjeet Singh Jatana is listed as the director of Villa Neguac and Foyer St. Bernard in New Brunswick's corporate registry. (Radio-Canada)
According to former and current employees of the homes, and a Caraquet company, the homes weren't paying service providers in the months leading up to last week, leading to food not being delivered, garbage not being taken out and worries that the electricity would be disconnected.
C.L. Comeau, a food distribution company in Caraquet, finally had to stop deliveries to the homes.
"[Jatana] told me that we're going to be paid one time, and then it would be the next time, and the next time, and we didn't get paid so we stopped," said Normand Mourant, manager at C.L. Comeau.
Mourant said the company began supplying the two homes with fresh and frozen foods in early 2022. However, it didn't take long for the deal to sour.
"[Getting paid] was an issue from the start and it never went better," he said.
Mourant said C.L. Comeau tried working out payment plans with Jatana, whom he spoke to by phone a few times.
However, the company decided in October to stop dealing with the homes.
Mourant said the company is now out "a few thousand dollars" and considering its next options.
"It's a pain in the butt, and it's not that we didn't try. We tried to make some arrangements, but they never kept their end of the bargain and for sure for us, we're not happy with what happened with that for those two places."
CBC News has tried numerous times to contact Jatana by phone. Last Friday, Jatana returned a phone call, but he declined an interview, saying it was late at night in India.
Jatana did not answer another call made around 10:30 a.m. India Standard Time on Tuesday and did not respond to a voicemail left at that time.
Unpaid bills cause anxiety among residents, staff
Gerri Robichaud said she worked at Foyer St. Bernard for about a year, until last August.
She said as part of the night crew, she was tasked with helping unpack food deliveries, which typically arrived every Wednesday morning.
She said sometime last spring, she and other staff noticed the Wednesday food deliveries had stopped showing up.
Gerri
Robichaud said she worked at Foyer St. Bernard for about a year up to
last August and saw how food deliveries stopped coming in and suppliers
complaining about not getting paid. (Submitted by Gerri Robichaud)
"Groceries started not coming in until one of the girls made a call to see what was going on and why it wasn't coming in, and [the supplier] said: 'Once we get paid, we'll start delivering again,'" Robichaud said.
Robichaud said staff ended up having to buy groceries with their own money to make sure residents — particularly those who were diabetic — were fed properly.
"I've seen … days and weeks where it was just soups and sandwiches, soups and sandwiches," she said.
Robichaud said N.B. Power was also among the companies owed money by the special care home.
She said she saw mailed notices from the utility that the home owed more than $5,000 and was at risk of being disconnected, worrying staff and residents.
"It made a lot of them furious and angry with what was going on. They were worried about what was going to happen."
Robichaud said she was ultimately fired from the home by the manager for speaking out about those issues.
Cynthia St-Coeur, who was a resident attendant at Villa Neguac until the home's licence was revoked, said she first noticed problems late last summer.
She said it was either the garbage wasn't being taken out, or food wasn't being delivered.
Cynthia
St-Coeur, a resident attendant at Villa Neguac, says food stopped
getting delivered and garbage stopped getting taken out, which staff
later found out was the result of contractors not being paid. (Submitted by Cynthia St-Coeur)
She said she'd sometimes have to send pictures of the garbage to Jatana via WhatsApp, a smartphone messaging app, to show him how bad the problem was before anything was done.
St-Coeur said at other times, the contractors would threaten to report the home to the Department of Social Development, prompting Jatana to do something.
"I know one of the companies, we cannot order there since August because they never got paid," St-Coeur said.
"They would pay the companies and sometimes not, and sometimes just a little bit, sometimes not."
St-Coeur said despite all the issues with bills not being paid, she and other employees did their best to hide those problems from residents.
"They never noticed nothing because we were just coming in, you know, every day doing our work, being big smiles and all that, but we had lots of problems in the office, you know, because of the owners."
Jatana not allowed to own another home, says minister
As of Tuesday, according to Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard, department staff had identified 26 residents as needing support finding new homes, with 14 of those having "full plans" for where they go next, and another seven having already moved out.
Villa
Neguac is one of two special care homes in the New Brunswick village of
Neguac that had their operating licences revoked last Tuesday by the
Department of Social Development. (Google Maps)
Shephard declined in an interview to share why the two homes had their operating licences revoked.
She said the department has standards that operators must meet when running a special care home, and if those aren't met, the department tries to work with the operator to help them comply.
If the operator still fails to meet obligations, the licence is revoked, she said.
"This operator will not be able to open a special care home in New Brunswick ... so we would hope that there might be an opportunity for another operator to purchase those properties and, you know, get a licence," Shephard said.
N.B. government among plaintiffs against Jatana
Last Friday, Radio-Canada reported Jatana is facing multiple lawsuits filed in 2021 and 2022 by the New Brunswick government, former business partners, and consultants, claiming he owes them more than $790,000.
Three separate claims filed in 2021, each amounting to between $225,000 and $250,000, allege plaintiffs invested in Jatana's company, Canadian National Growers Inc., under an agreement for returns that didn't materialize.
Premier Blaine Higgs has in the past cited Jatana and his company, Canadian National Growers, as a model for New Brunswick economic development and lauded him in 2019 for donating apples grown on his Kent County orchard to an Edmundston food bank.
Premier
Blaine Higgs has cited Jatana and his company, Canadian National
Growers, as a model for New Brunswick economic development. (Twitter)
The provincial government, in its December 2022 claim, alleges that Service New Brunswick accidentally wired $21,679 to Chaleur College Inc., another company owned by Jatana, and says he never gave the money back.
The rest of the claims against Jatana come from companies and individuals claiming he did not pay for consulting work he hired them to do.
None of those claims have been proven in court. However, an earlier claim launched in Prince Edward Island against Jatana and a business associate resulted in a judge ordering they pay $101,162 to a plaintiff who said money invested in an apple orchard business wasn't used for the intended purposes.
CBC News asked Shephard if department staff were aware of any legal troubles Jatana might have been facing when they gave him a licence to operate a special care home.
"What I know is that when, when a licence is given, staff have done everything they need to do within the parameters of … that baseline for giving a licence," she said.
"As to any other information, I'm not, I'm not aware. I'm not able to speak to that."
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With files from Pascal Raiche-Nogue
N.B. opposition MLAs denounce lack of transparency about special care home closures
'Unacceptable' to withhold reasons for closing two Neguac special care homes, says Green Leader David Coon
"Now, once again, we have a government that refuses to come clean on explaining the actions it takes," said Green Party Leader David Coon.
"It's unacceptable. The business of government is the business of the people, and the people have a right to know."
The Department of Social Development announced Tuesday it had revoked the operating licences for Villa Neguac and Foyer St. Bernard — both located in Neguac, N.B. — out of concern for the well-being of residents living there.
The decision has left the families of residents scrambling to find new homes by Feb. 17. Because spaces in the area are limited, some families may have to settle for moving their loved ones to homes as far away as Bathurst or Miramichi.
Foyer
St. Bernard is one of two special care homes that had their operating
licences revoked by the Department of Social Development. (Michèle Brideau/RADIO-CANADA)
Social Development has confirmed an investigation was carried out and "infractions" were found, it won't say what those violations were.
Robert Gauvin, the Liberal Opposition critic for social development, said the public is wrongly being "left in the dark" on what was going at the two special care homes.
"The problem with lack of transparency [is it] creates doubts, and when you create doubt, you're left to wonder," Gauvin said.
"But at the end of the day, they closed the place, and they did not close it because it was going well, right?"
CBC News hasn't been allowed to speak with Social Development Minister Dorothy Shephard, despite multiple requests.
In an email, department spokesperson Rebecca Howland said confidentiality rules prevent elaborating on the nature of the infractions and the investigations carried out on the two homes.
She said inspections for both homes were completed between November and December of 2021 and were valid for one year.
They were due to be renewed in 2022 but were not because of the investigation.
"When an investigation is underway, this indicates that there are serious concerns with quality of care standards not being met, and they have risen to the level that an investigation is required," Howland said.
"The purpose of an investigation is to confirm or negate the allegations of non-compliance with established standards and practices."
CBC News also called both Villa Neguac and Foyer St. Bernard on Thursday and was told no managers or owners were available for an interview.
Moncton address for director of both homes
Howland said the department had issued the operating licences to Amit Singh Jatana, Bhajan Kour and Ravinder Pal Singh.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick's corporate registry names Dr. Amarjeet Singh Jatana as the sole director for both of the homes, with a Moncton address listed under his name.
In a news release on Tuesday, the Department of Social Development said it recognized that staff at both homes remained dedicated to residents "despite challenges related to the operation of the facilities."
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