Chief: No to Band Custom, Indian Act Elections

Chief: No to Band Custom, Indian Act Elections

Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 14:17

 

 

The chief of a First Nation that had a disputed election this past fall says band custom elections are not the way to go.

 

Thunderchild Chief Delbert Wapass spoke this morning at an electoral reform conference in Saskatoon.

 

He says there are more appeals for band custom elections than Indian Act elections.

 

He says Thunderchild fought to get band custom and says now that is regrettable because either way, Wapass says INAC becomes involved.

 

Wapass says there are four lawyers involved in the October Thunderchild election and says their interpretations of the elections act come into conflict with how the Elders understand it.

 

Wapass says he doesn’t know what the solution is, but says there has to be something better than band custom or Indian Act elections.

 

Meantime, the grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says there does need to be electoral reform.

 

Grand Chief Ron Evans is part of a group of chiefs leading discussions across the country on such reform.

 

He says terms of office need to be extended to four years as well as fixed election dates.

 

Evans says extending terms for chief and council is important because any investment projects, such as construction, take three to five years to just get underway, so any band operating on a two-year term would often be considered too high-risk for investors.

 

Evans says there also need to be changes to the mail-in ballot procedures so that instead of ballots automatically sent to anyone on the membership list, people request them – he says that way, people who actually want to vote will do so.