Fort Simpson (June 20/03) - Dieter Cazon feels shut out.

A 25-year-old member of the Liidlii Kue First Nation, he's not eligible to vote in today's band election. Chief and council decided earlier this month to disallow proxy votes. Therefore, Cazon, temporarily living in Calgary, is out of luck.

"Not being able to vote has really got my dander up... every vote counts," he said, adding that he only moved two months ago and plans to return permanently within a year.

Nearly half of LKFN members live outside of Fort Simpson.

Band council's decision to forbid proxy votes was based on a survey of band members, according to Rosemary Gill, executive director for the LKFN. The majority were opposed to proxy votes, said Gill. She added that some out-of-town band members were included in the survey via telephone.

"This election code needs to be reviewed and revised again for a final draft for November 15, but (for now) we're going with what the members had said in their survey," Gill explained.

Cazon is taking on-the-job training in human resources with an engineering firm in Calgary. Nogha Enterprises, the LKFN's economic development arm, arranged for the opportunity, but it forced Cazon to relocate to Calgary for a year.

He wrote a letter to the band council a few weeks ago. In it, he expressed his dismay over the possibility of being excluded from voting.

He wrote, in part:

"How does one gauge not being in Fort Simpson? If members are absent due to work, can they not vote? If they live in the bush, can they not vote?

"It does not matter if whether a band member lives 1,800 feet away or 1,800 kilometres away, you are still a band member. You still have a right to vote."