PBCN Urban Councillor Warren McCallum. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski
Warren McCallum is breathing a lot easier in recent weeks after the federal court reinstated him as urban councillor for Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation.
The elected position sat vacant for 10 months after the band’s Elder’s Council voted to remove him. The decision was based on a petition with concerns about his leadership, but the decision was overturned two weeks ago.
McCallum said his immediate reaction to the ruling was happiness, as well as feeling vindicated. First, he let his wife know the news and then contacted his family and supporters.
However, getting back to work wasn’t as easy as just heading into the office. McCallum contacted Chief Peter Beatty to let him know about the ruling.
“His response was he had to talk to the band lawyer about it to review the ruling and everything before I went back to the office,” McCcallum said.
McCallum says the whole experience has been stressful.
“The last 10 months we went through hardship with my family and my wife and my kids,” he said.
Urban members of PBCN like Bella Ratt are still citing possible conflicts in McCallum’s role, and say they feel their leadership has not stood up for them.
McCallum said there are still a lot of urban issues that need to be addressed, and his next steps are prioritizing those issues to hold a public meeting to discuss a plan of action.
He said he believes he has the confidence of the majority of membership, based on his win in the 2015 PBCN election.
“I will continue to support the best interests of the urban membership and attempt to catch up on all the time lost,” McCallum said.
When asked if he will change how he communicates with membership, McCallum said he will continue to post urban meetings in advance and “maybe I will find a way to communicate with other membership.”
When asked if there is anything to be learned from the experience of going to federal court, McCallume said chief, council, and the band can learn more about their own Election Code of 2014.
Finally, McCallum wanted to thank his legal counsel Kimberly Stonechild.