A group of about 40 Sturgeon Lake council supporters on Friday. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski
Sturgeon Lake will likely be sending off two different sets of band election results to Indigenous Affairs this month, because two separate factions are holding their own elections for chief and council.
Last week, the six members of band council removed the chief electoral officer, Leslie Badger, and deputy electoral officer, McCallum from their positions. Council then announced plans to vote for new officers and go ahead with elections.
But those officers say council had been dissolved and had no authority to make that call. Elder AJ Felix supports the officers, and says they disbanded council last Monday when the original nomination meeting was meant to be held. That meeting was postponed due to a death in the community.
On Friday, Badger and Claudia McCallum held a nomination meeting and acclaimed the formerly removed chief, Henry Felix, as the new leader of Sturgeon Lake since he was the only chief candidate at the meeting.
AJ Felix says those boycotting that meeting are in the wrong.
He says elections are going ahead, with advance polls in Saskatoon happening on Wednesday and in Prince Albert on Thursday. Friday will be election day on Sturgeon, he says.
“As soon as this election is over… we will be submitting our report to the Indigenous Affairs or Indian affairs on Monday where they, by legality, will be announcing the new leadership,” AJ Felix says.
In AJ Felix’s view, council’s letter saying Badger and McCallum failed to sign the oath of office and failed to comply with the terms of office is covering up their actual reasons for removing the CEO and DEO. AJ says council was unhappy that their choices didn’t win in the band membership’s original vote for the CEO and DEO. This is something that council supporter, and Elder, Mike Daniels has already acknowledged.
As of right now, the band’s staff is not funding Badger and McCallum’s elections.
The community’s years-old political divide over the election of Henry Felix in 2013 reared its head again last week.
“It’s sad how we can carry on a feud between families that normally got along for decades,” Felix said.
The federal department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs is charged with validating band election results, and does so following that First Nation’s custom Elections Act.