About 50 people crowded into the meeting room of a Prince Albert hotel today to witness a hearing examining a disputed election on the Sturgeon Lake First Nation.
The vote on March 26th, 2010 saw incumbent chief Wesley Daniels narrowly defeat challenger Henry Felix.
However, the results were appealed on the basis of alleged voting irregularities.
A federal judge heard the case on September 6th, and a month later ordered a hearing.
Two lawyers entered today’s proceedings — one represented Felix, while the other represented the deputy electoral officer.
They were opposed by Daniels, who represented himself.
Felix’s lawyer, Ron Cherkewich, started off the hearing by raising questions about the makeup of the tribunal, the impartiality of the lawyer acting for them, and the appeal document.
Daniels argued the hearing shouldn’t proceed at all, because the decision of the federal judge was currently under appeal.
The three-member tribunal panel excused themselves to deliberate the matter behind closed doors.
They returned to announce that the meeting would be adjourned until November 21st.
They said things would proceed at that time, unless a stay of proceedings had been ordered by a court.
However, the tribunal did ask to hear the main arguments raised by Cherkewich.
He told the panel they included allegations of missing ballots, the length of time it took him to get information from the lawyer for the band, and other elements of potential bias.