In a court document filed this week, Habitat for Humanity Canada is denying its former Prince George affiliate's allegation that it is looking for a way to seize the local group's assets to address its own financial problems.
Responding to a counterclaim from Hearts and Hands for Homes Society, Habitat Canada said it acted in good faith in its dealings with the group and called the counterclaim "unnecessary, scandalous, frivolous and vexatious."
Habitat Canada also denied it wrongfully dismissed two of the local affiliate's employees, Donald and Jo-Ann Pickering, claiming instead that the two were actually dismissed by the Hearts and Hands board of directors, acting on legal advice.
The two have been at odds since at least September 2012 when Habitat for Humanity Canada says it uncovered a "multitude of problems and issues" while conducting a routine assessment of Hearts and Hands - then known as Habitat for Humanity Prince George.
Saying the local organization refused to live up to Habitat for Humanity standards, it was disaffiliated a year later and, on Nov. 4, the national organization filed a notice of claim seeking ownership of Hearts and Hands assets.
In a counterclaim filed in November, Hearts and Hands maintained Habitat Canada is facing a declining financial situation, causing its American parent to embark on a plan to disaffiliate locally-based societies "with a view to liquidating substantial assets" of the affiliates to reduce their own deficits.
Hearts and Hands has also said most of the assets it has acquired predate an affiliation agreement it signed with Habitat Canada in 2006 and that the national organization breached its fiduciary responsibilities, claims also denied in the latest filing.
Hearts and Hands has not yet gained charitable status from Canada Revenue Agency, meaning it cannot provide tax receipts for donations.
None of the allegations have yet been proven in court.
