DENINU KU'E/FORT RESOLUTION - Instead of going to court right away, the second-place candidate for chief in the Feb. 11 election at Fort Resolution's Deninu Ku'e First Nation (DKFN) has launched a petition.

Tom Unka said the petition will be sent to the minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC).

It will call on the minister to overturn the February election - in which a chief and five councillors were chosen - and order a new election under federal supervision as opposed to the band's customary election code.

"We're requesting that it goes back to the Indian Act where it can be overseen by INAC," Unka said.

The unsuccessful candidate and his supporters have been collecting signatures for a couple of weeks.

"We have been getting names from a lot of members from outside the community and within the community," he said. "We're still working on it."

Unka said the petition had more than 60 signatures as of March 23.

Most of the names have been collected by going door to door in the community, while others have been obtained online.

Unka said it had initially been hoped the petition would be ready by March 28, but it will now be extended for a week or two.

There is not necessarily a target for the number of signatures to be collected, he said.

"You could fly with a petition usually if you got about 50 signatures in a little community like this. I think you could probably make it stand."

DKFN has more than 600 eligible voters.

Unka's decided to try the petition first instead of challenging the election results in court.

"It's kind of costly," he said of a legal challenge.

However, Unka said the issue may still end up in court if the petition doesn't work

"If it has to come to that, and if we find an avenue, yes, we will go to court," he said.

The band's previous election in late 2009 was overturned in court.

In the February vote, Unka finished second in a four-person race for chief.

Chief Louis Balsillie is not impressed with Unka's decision to launch the petition.

"I can't believe that guy," he said.

"I can't believe the way he's acting."

Balsillie added Unka is losing the respect of the people, including elders, through his actions.

The chief said the election was run fairly.

Balsillie predicted INAC will not be swayed by the petition. "They can't interfere in what we're doing."

Unka is working on a letter to accompany the petition and it will outline his concerns about how the February vote was conducted.

In an appeal to the DKFN's electoral officer just after the election, Unka listed a number of concerns, including the opening times for the polling station, the eligibility of candidates, harassment during the campaign and other issues.

The appeal was rejected by a three-person committee made up of Fort Resolution residents who are not

members of DKFN.

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