There is double trouble on the Cowessess First Nation today.
Some students chained the doors of the local school this morning, saying they are not getting a proper education.
This follows another protest where the doors of the band office were chained with protesters demanding the reserve be turned over to third party management.
The chief of the reserve is getting frustrated and may go to court to get an injunction against the protesters.
Chief Terry Lavallee says he is doing the best he can to manage the affairs of the reserve, but says it is getting more difficult.
He says the protesters have made their point and it is time for them to move on:
“They are just getting to be a downright public nuisance because they are stopping regular day-to-day band business, so I may have to apply for a court injunction against them just to keep them at bay.”
Lavallee says when he was elected chief in April of 2013 he inherited a big deficit. Lavallee says the band council managed to reduce that debt by cutting spending. He says the budget for salaries at the school was $1.2 milion. He says that was cut by $450,000 by replacing some higher-paid teachers:
“We have all qualified teachers in there that have their Saskatchewan certificates for teaching, so I don’t see a problem with the school.”
Some students at the school question the cuts, saying they have hurt the quality of education. Among them is Grade 12 student Shenika Lerat.
She was part of the group of students that put chains on the doors of the school:
“We have all these teachers with just five years of experience and we had all the best teachers out there — and once the principal got in, it all went downhill.”
There is a split on the band council — four support the chief, four do not. Councillor Malcolm Delorme says the split has made it impossible to conduct band business. He wants the chief ousted, and is anxiously awaiting a court decision.
“The only thing I want to see right now is this ruling from the Federal Court. You know, once we get the ruling, he either is, or isn’t, the chief.”
That challenge deals with the band’s own election act. It states elected representatives must live on-reserve, something Chief Lavallee did not do at the time of last year’s election.
He says he is back in his house on the reserve now. He adds if he loses the court challenge, the decision will be appealed. The court case was heard last November, but a decision has still not come down.
The Cowessess First Nation is about 160 kilometres east of Regina, near Broadview.