Photo courtesy Government of Canada.
The fight over who is in charge at the George Gordon First Nation, which is located northeast of Regina, just got a little more complicated with the federal Indigenous Affairs Department now being dragged into the dispute.
Things began to unravel on October 28th when a Regina Queen’s Bench judge ruled the results of last spring’s election on the reserve were null and void because of voting irregularities. Indigenous Affairs was caught in the middle, and has changed its position a couple of times.
This is a precedent setting case. What is happening in this situation has never happened before. The March election was held under a new election law for First Nations. It is called the First Nations Election Act, which was passed into law in 2015.
A new band and council were elected under the act last March, but a band member thought the way the vote was conducted was fishy. Solomon Cyr challenged the election in court and won. In October, a judge threw out the results, citing voting irregularities.
Shortly after that, INAC withdrew all but essential funding, and no longer recognized the chief and council. Last month though, INAC switched its position, deciding it would recognize the chief and council, pending the outcome of an appeal currently underway. In other words, INAC is overruling the courts.
The lawyer for Solomon Cyr says this has never happened before, but it is INAC’S legal right to make its case.
“It’s not as though INAC is disregarding the order of the court, that’s not the case, and that’s not what I am saying.” he said. “INAC is simply interpreting the Court of Appeal Act.”
The case is set to be heard in the court of appeal on February 10th.
Solomon Cyr’s lawyer, Nathan Phillips, will be arguing that INAC overstepped its jurisdiction, and he will push for a quick election. He says some progress is being made and some deadlines have been put in place.
Lawyers for the chief and council declined comment.
INAC has also not yet responded to our request for an explanation of its changed position.