Saskatchewan Court of Appeal/Court of Queens Bench in Regina. Photo courtesy of Manfred Joehnck.
Last spring’s election results on the George Gordon First Nation are still up in the air, but the Indigenous Affairs Department has now changed its position on how it will handle the situation.
In October, a Regina judge threw out the election results because of voting irregularities. Shortly after, INAC announced it no longer recognized the band and council, and would provide only essential program funding.
It also announced it would begin the process of putting a new electoral office in place so another election could be held as soon as possible. INAC has now backed off, saying it will do nothing until the Court of Appeal brings down a ruling on the challenge.
The man who launched the initial court action, Solomon Cyr, was back in Court of Appeal Chambers Wednesday with his lawyer Nathan Phillips. They are laying the ground work for the next court hearing, which is scheduled for February. They are hoping for a new election as soon as possible.
Phillips says dragging out the process is unfair to band members who deserve a fairly elected government.
“In this particular case, they are not the legitimate band council, but at the end of the day, the Court of Appeal will have the final say and will determine if the learned judge erred in setting aside the election results and calling a new one.” he said.
Cyr adds there is a sense of urgency to get this settled because it is unfair to band members who are being denied their right to a democratically elected government.
The Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear the case on February 10th. In the meantime, the chief and council elected last spring are still in charge.