Lonechild Takes Steps To Avoid Impeachment
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 09:28
The chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations is taking steps to save his political office.
Recently Chief Guy Lonechild mailed a letter to other chiefs urging them to think rationally about efforts to impeach him.
In the letter Lonechild says the FSIN has made great strides in strengthening the First Nations University and he outlines several other improvements that have been made.
He says calmer heads need to prevail though, because if the impeachment goes through it will damage the Federation’s stability and long-term unity.
Lonechild says he doesn’t believe he’ll get a fair hearing from the FSIN’s Indian Government Commission either, because it’s mostly made up of chiefs who are already calling for his removal.
He also doesn’t like recent rule changes which allow a simple majority of remaining chiefs at an assembly to remove the FSIN leader from office.
The impeachment efforts stem from an incident several months ago when Lonechild was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.
Lonechild insists he was up front about the matter though and followed all the rules regarding its disclosure to the FSIN.
Meanwhile the Saskatoon Star Phoenix is reporting that the total cost for the SIGA board for directors last year reached six hundred thousand dollars.
In the article Lonechild calls that amount “excessive.”