Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 30/04) - A five-year legal battle for control of the North Slave Metis Alliance will trudge on after a former director announced he is taking the organization back to court.

By the end of the week, Bill Enge plans to file a motion looking to declare certain sections of the group's constitution and several bylaws illegal.

"This will put us back on our proper footing and ensure the (alliance) is able to achieve its goal," Enge said Monday.

It's the latest step in a legal tug-of-war that Enge estimates has cost himself and Metis organizations in Rae and Yellowknife close to $200,000.

Enge was kicked out of the alliance in 1998 along with close to 100 others after the board of directors changed the eligibility requirements for members.

Enge, president of Metis Local 66 in Yellowknife, took the organization to court. In October 2003 a judge ruled in his favour. Enge's alliance membership and those of 87 others were re-instated.

Last year, the alliance appealed that decision but abandoned the case during a hearing in Supreme Court last week.

Enge said the next step in the legal battle is to have certain sections of the alliance's constitution and several bylaws declared invalid.

At the top of that list are articles that altered membership requirements, changed the makeup of the board of directors and did away with the requirement that the alliance presidency rotate between Rae-Edzo and Yellowknife.

Enge said he would prefer to settle the case without going to court, but he doesn't believe the current alliance leadership is inclined to negotiate.

"They will not agree to re-instate the old by-laws," he said.

Yellowknifer tried to contact NSMA president North Douglas, but alliance officials said he was in Ottawa for the week. Other officials were not prepared to comment on the case.

Enge said he was confident the alliance -- which was formed to represent the interests of Metis in the North Slave region -- wouldn't be adversely affected by the protracted legal battle.

"I'm very confident that the members will be satisfied that a tyranny has not been established," Enge said.