George Gordon First Nation. Photo courtesy of Manfred Joehnck.
The chief of the Gordon First Nation is considering a Supreme Court appeal of last week’s split decision from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal that ordered a new election for chief, but upheld the election results for the eight band council members.
Bryan McNabb Junior was elected a year ago. He says the ongoing legal battle is hurting everyone on the First Nation, located about 110 kilometres north of Regina.
McNabb says he will get a legal opinion, then decide whether to simply hold a new vote for chief or continue the fight in court. Either way, he says it has been tough on everyone, including himself.
“There has been a lot of turmoil, a lot of dissention, there is a major split in the community,” he said. “You know it’s not healthy, it’s not healthy for First Nations people to be continuously having conflict.”
The entire election was thrown out last fall by a lower court over 31 disputed ballots — 14 for council and 17 for chief.
The Court of Appeal overturned part of that decision, saying the disputed ballots would not have changed the outcome for band council positions, so those results will stand, but it ordered a new vote for chief, saying those results could have been impacted.
McNabb says losing candidates in First Nations elections often resort to court challenges.
“In every First Nation, pretty much someone appeals the outcome of the election, primarily because their candidate did not win,” he said.
McNabb says his name will be on the ballot for chief, and he is a confident of another win. It’s not clear when he will make his decision on what to do next.
He does says he has put good people in place and helped straighten out the financial mess the First Nation was in when he was elected a year ago.