Winnipeg police have alleged Paa Pii Wak was a front for ongoing gang activity. (CBC)

A Winnipeg "safe house" for aboriginal men trying to leave the gang lifestyle that has had its government support cut appears to have had no recent board governance or bureaucratic oversight.

Paa Pii Wak opened six years ago as a support facility for aboriginal men wanting to leave the gang lifestyle, but police are now alleging it was being used as a front for gang activity.

Pastor Ray Cornish of the Deliverance Centre said he's been concerned about Paa Pii Wak for months because no one seemed to be in charge. Cornish's church acted as a community sponsor for the facility last year, helping it qualify for government funding after one stream of money under the Winnipeg Housing and Homelessness Initiative suddenly stopped.

Cornish said he has no authority to appoint a board or fire anyone because Paa Pii Wak is supposed to be under the control of a separate native-run institution, Thunderbird House.

Cornish described the situation as a political nightmare.

When CBC News contacted several people listed as board members on Paa Pii Wak's website, it learned that not one of those individuals still sits on the board and none could name a current board member.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, which this week cut off funding to the centre, can't say whether Paa Pii Wak is held accountable to anyone for its operations.

An HRSDC spokesman said Paa Pii Wak was being funded under a program that allows community stakeholders to oversee the operation — but could not say who those community stakeholders were.

Police arrested and charged four staff members and three residents of the facility last week, claiming the house was being used to help get a street gang's members out of jail.

Shortly after, HRSDC said funding for Paa Pii Wak was cancelled.

Ottawa contributed more than $269,000 in the past year to Paa Pii Wak, and more than $600,000 in the previous three years through the Winnipeg Housing and Homelessness Initiative. Manitoba's provincial government also contributed more than $30,000 to the facility since 2002.

Police alleged this week that some of Paa Pii Wak's staff are current gang members and associates who were helping their colleagues continue a criminal lifestyle while living in the government-funded facility. Charges against the seven accused include obstruction of justice, breach of recognizance, and drug possession.

"They were actively pursuing their criminal lifestyle, they were not trying to get out of that lifestyle.… The only people that were allowed in were people that either had gang associations or that were clearly gang members," said Winnipeg police Const. Jacqueline Chaput.

Winnipeg police and the RCMP's gang intelligence unit have been investigating Paa Pii Wak since last October.

The Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg said Thursday it will lobby to get the program funding reinstated.

Council president Damon Johnston said funding for the program was going to end in March anyway, and a new source of funding was required.

"We will step in and use the resources we have, our networks with government, whoever, to bring them to the table with Paa Pii Wak and move to correct whatever is necessary in that situation. Our position is that any organization can get in trouble."