Philippe Morin
Northern News Services
Monday, July 2, 2007

ARCTIC RED RIVER - Tsiigehtchic held its elections on June 18, and the community's search for Gwich'ya Gwich'in Chief ended in a tie.

Both Russel Andre and Frederick "Sonny" Blake jr earned 27 votes, while third place contender Philip Blake earned 24.

As is prescribed by the hamlet's bylaws, Andre and Blake's names were placed in a ballot box and one was selected at random by the hamlet's Returning Officer, Anna May MacLeod.

She picked Blake's ballot, so by law he is the new Chief.

However, Andre objects to the process because of a spoiled ballot, and other concerns.

While he did not see the spoiled ballot personally, Andre said his electoral agent - his wife Tanya who helped verify the ballot count - believes it was intended for him, because the "x" was horizontally next to his name, but not written on a provided dash.

Andre also claims he was misinformed about the eligibility of proxy voters, and said not enough effort was made to attract voters outside the community who have band membership.

His letter accuses the hamlet of deliberately misinforming him about several aspects of the election, including these votes, to prevent him from being chief and see the election of Blake. "I found out that proxy voters were eligible at 1:30 p.m. on election day, because I saw a proxy application to the band office," he said.

"All my supporters want me to fight this," he said.

On June 26, Andre was spending the day at his mother's house in Inuvik.

"I've been using Inuvik as my base of operations, I can't go back to Tsiigehtchic yet," he said.

And while he said he's not excited about going to the Supreme Court, it's an option he will consider.

"I feel I've been discriminated against during this whole electoral process," he said.

Andre added he felt the office of Chief should not be selected at random.

"An office of this standing should be decided by a vote."

Frederick Blake jr could not be reached as of press time, and Chief Peter Ross of Tsiigehtchic declined to comment, saying it would be inappropriate for him to take a stand on the matter as outgoing Chief.

Andre is a former hamlet councillor, bylaw officer, Captain of the Louis Cardinal Ferry, foreman of the hamlet's ice bridge, current fire chief and father of six who was born and raised in Tsiigehtchic.

Anna May MacLeod, the hamlet's returning officer, declined to discuss the situation with News/North.