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RAE-EDZO/BEHCHOKO - Behchoko Chief Leon Lafferty plans to file a complaint to the chief electoral officer about the release of what he considers a slanderous a newsletter by the Tlicho Government.

"They're releasing an update during the election period," Lafferty said, adding the nominations closed last Monday. "It's not the real documents. They're taking information from the courthouse and putting it onto a document that looks like a Tlicho news release. They're saying three chiefs this and three chiefs that. It's not right."

Lafferty said it's an attempt to influence public opinion and perception to undermine their character. Lafferty will name Tlicho Grand Chief George Mackenzie and the government's lawyers in the complaint.

"It's an election thing," he said. "They're trying to use public opinion to sway people in our communities. Maybe they have their own people in the election they want so they're doing negative campaigning on us."

The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs was unavailable to comment on the soon-to-be filed complaint. The chief electoral officer for the election works for the department.

The six-page newsletter titled "Update on the three chiefs lawsuit against the Tlicho government" outlines the lawsuit Chief Lafferty and Chiefs Henry Gon of Gameti and Charlie J. Nitsiza of Whati filed in late January against Mackenzie and the Tlicho government. The chiefs claim the Chiefs' Executive Council (CEC) was unconstitutionally terminated.

The council was the main forum for chiefs and sub chiefs to discuss policy and laws under the Tlicho Agreement.

Lafferty said the law to eliminate the CEC was passed without following procedures set out in the Tlicho Agreement.

"It's a law they passed in one hour when it should take two annual gatherings and the whole assembly and a ratification by the people. They didn't follow the steps," he said. "We have an act we have in place, we have to follow it. We can't ask them to compromise and break their own laws and that's what they are doing. I don't support that.

"They're making it sound like a big thing and scaring the people. They're implying we're doing it (filing the lawsuit) to hurt the government. We're trying to do it so the people aren't hurt."

The newsletter says the chiefs involved in the lawsuit are acting on their own and not with the support of their communities.

"The three chiefs cannot bring the community governments into this lawsuit unless the community governments authorize it," the document says. "To the knowledge of the Tlicho Government, no such authorization has been given."

The document also claims "the chiefs have misled the court by claiming to be acting on behalf of the three community governments, and have created potential legal and financial liability for those communities."

Grand Chief George Mackenzie was unavailable to comment on the allegations at press time.