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DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION - A long-running leadership dispute at Fort Resolution's Deninu Ku'e First Nation (DKFN) will head to court in the new year.

Bill Norn is challenging his ouster as chief of Deninu Ku'e First Nation in Fort Resolution. - NNSL file photo

Bill Norn, who was elected to a four-year term as chief in early 2007, was suspended by band council five months later and then dismissed in December of last year.

Norn said he would like the issue cleared up and hopes that can be done in court.

"I'd like nothing better than to be sitting there until it is hashed out," he said, adding he also thinks the dispute could be settled by taking it before the band membership.

Norn's lawyer, Katherine Peterson of Yellowknife, said the case has been filed with the NWT Supreme Court and a hearing will be set sometime early in the new year, hopefully in Fort Resolution.

"We have a few steps to take before that's scheduled," Peterson said, although she declined to discuss the case further.

Norn also declined to be specific about what the case will involve

However, he said he will seek reinstatement as chief or payment for the four years he had planned to serve as chief.

Norn said he is a businessperson and had put his business aside to become chief.

"I believe we have a very good case or we wouldn't have went this far with it," he said.

Norn would not be specific about why he was dismissed.

"I wasn't very popular, in plain English," he said of his relationship with the council, adding, for example, he stopped advance payments for employees and objected to the band having "rubber cheques" all over the place.

Norn said he started to run the band like a business, and was criticized as arrogant and not being a team player.

Norn said no one from DKFN has ever officially told him he has been dismissed.

"I'm the elected chief and there are a lot of people in the community who still consider me chief," he said.

Louis Balsillie, the sub-chief at the time, became acting chief on Norn's suspension.

Norn said the leadership issue could have been settled earlier if the band had held an annual general meeting.

Such a meeting actually began last December only to be recessed and never resumed.

"If there was an AGM, I think all of this could have been avoided," Norn said.

Earlier this fall, a group of DKFN elders expressed concern about the leadership situation and called for a new election for chief.

Norn does not oppose that idea.

"I'm not going to stand in the way of any kind of election. I never did," he said.

Although Balsillie was out of the community last week and could not be reached for comment, he has previously said no election can be held for a new chief until Norn's lawsuit is completed.

If a new chief is elected and Norn is reinstated by the courts, the band could end up with two chiefs, Balsillie said.

When asked about that concern, Norn said, "We'd have to cross that bridge when we come to it."