Fort Smith (Apr 28/03) - Five ousted band councillors at Salt River First Nation have made their pitch for reinstatement before a judge.

Lawyers argued the case, April 23 in Edmonton, before Justice Paul Rouleau of the Federal Court of Canada.

Rouleau reserved judgement, saying he will make a decision within 90 days.

Christopher Harvey, the Vancouver lawyer representing the former councillors of the Fort Smith band, says the judge requires time to consider the arguments because of the high volume of material presented by the two sides.

Four of the former councillors - Melvin Wanderingspirit, Delphine Beaulieu, Toni Heron and Raymond Beaver - attended the hearing. Only Sonny MacDonald was absent.

The respondents in the case - Chief Victor Marie, the current council and acting band manager Jeannie Marie Jewell - were also present.

Harvey notes the hearing was filled to overflowing. "There were not enough seats in the courtroom."

The status of Marie and Councillor Norman Starr is not being challenged in the legal action.

The five former councillors had been elected in the August 2002 general band election, but were replaced at a special meeting in November. They had called the meeting to discuss the status of Chief Victor Marie, whom they had previously voted to remove from office.

"We feel confident that the August council will be restored to their rightful positions," says Harvey.

In court, he argued the Nov. 3 election was done by a small rump group of the SRFN and did not reflect the will of the band, and the vote was held without proper notice. The lawyer therefore asked the judge to declare the vote null and void.

However, Robert Philp, the lawyer for the respondents, argued the case is about a question of leadership, noting the applicants called the November meeting and picked the chairperson. And he said it is well known that, at general meetings, everything is up for grabs.

"This was in keeping with long-held customs, traditions and practices of the Salt River First Nation," he says. "The will of the membership is paramount."

Philp says there are some difficult issues for the court to consider, adding the judge will probably make his decision based on the details of the case when he reflects on the documents.

"I'm not surprised he reserved judgement," the St. Albert lawyer says. "The good news from our side is, if the November council is so bad, they would be out of there by now. They're still the council."