Photo courtesy of pamodelforest.sk.ca
There will be a hotly contested by-election for the position of chief of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation next month.
An elders council has stepped in to review the suspension and exclusion of several candidates from the election last March. It has ruled that Frank Roberts, who was prevented from running for chief, should not have been excluded.
It’s good news for Roberts, but he says there is still a lot of questions about how the band is being run. Roberts was among four councillors suspended without pay last February for allegedly violating the oath of office and was prevented from running in the election last March.
“There was an attempt to tarnish my name,” he said. “But they were not successful in doing that, and I followed all the procedures I needed to do.”
The election for chief was won by Edward Henderson, who defeated two other candidates. Roberts says there will be a lot of interest in the upcoming by-election, which will be held November 27. He goes into the race feeling confident of a win.
“The support is there from my community members,” he said. “They want that change.”
The dispute over the suspensions was handled internally, the elders council ruled only on allowing Roberts to run, but there is also a judicial appeal being filed with the Federal Court over the three other suspensions.