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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 10, 2008

The following is a statement released on June 10/08 by United Way Toronto with respect to Jan Donio.

On Monday May 5, 2008, the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) provided United Way Toronto with detailed information about alleged accounting irregularities when Jan Donio was employed by the COU as Chief Information Officer.  We immediately conducted an internal investigation and engaged Deloitte & Touche to conduct a forensic audit of our accounts.  No evidence — or even suspicion — of wrong-doing has been discovered.  We have absolute confidence in the integrity of our accounting function and maintain robust accounting controls. According to Deloitte & Touche:  There is no evidence or suspicion of any illegal activity.  Several times, Deloitte and Touche auditors commented on the “robustness” of United Way Toronto’s accounting  practices and the limited opportunity to carry out any similar activity. 

A June 10/08 Globe and Mail article about this situation cited that neither the Council of Ontario Universities or United Way validated Ms. Donio's academic credentials and that those credentials were not legitimate. United Way Toronto did receive confirmation of her stated academic credentials from the Council of Ontario Universities during the reference checks. We did not in this case check her degrees with issuing educational institutions.   

Our regular employment screening process includes rigorous reference checks, criminal background checks for sensitive financial positions and educational credential checks where the credentials are relevant to the position.   In the hiring of Ms. Donio, reference checks included two former senior members of the Ontario and Federal Public Services.  As a result of this experience, UWT will be conducting educational credential checks with issuing educational institutions in all future hires.

The news of an investigation at the Council of Ontario Universities and the credentials issue came as a surprise to us. Jan Donio was a respected and admired member of our team during her 15 month tenure at United Way Toronto. We grieve her loss and extend our sympathies to her family.

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