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Possible new chief and council
Election appeal committee in Fort Providence
to put forward recommendations on Friday
Nathalie Heiberg-Harrison
The Sept. 15 election, which was set to elect a new chief and seven new band councillors, was appealed by three separate people, she said. Two appeals questioned how candidates got their nominations in on time if they were out of town, but both have been resolved. Lavavasseur said the appeal committee decided in both cases that all candidates had enough time to put their nomination papers in by the deadline. The third appeal, which Loretta Landry filed directly after the election, questioned how the votes were counted. Landry claims that as votes were counted, legitimate ballots were declared spoiled. She said she checked less than seven councillors off on her ballot, deciding only to vote for those she supported. Later, when ballots were counted, hers and approximately 31 others were categorized as spoiled when they should have been valid. The band's election regulations state that members are to put a mark opposite the "name of the candidate or candidates for who they desire to vote for." The appeal committee was set to meet on Wednesday to decide how they would move forward. Lavavasseur said they would be ready to present their recommendations to the Deh Gah Got'ie First Nation council on Friday. "We're not sure what their recommendations are going to be," she said. If all goes well, a new chief and band council could be in place by next week. Since Sept. 15, the former band and council have stayed in their roles. Under the initial vote count, Wayne Sabourin was elected as chief with 132 votes, 30 more than incumbent Joachim Bonnetrouge. Greg Nyuli garnered 56 votes. All five of the incumbent band councillors who ran were re-elected. Bernadette Landry came in sixth with 133 votes and Victor Constant came in seventh with 128 votes. Altogether, 14 people ran for band council. The three-person appeal committee is made up of Bob Head, Lois Phillip and Shauna Clarke. Lavavasseur said their work was initially delayed after one candidate for chief contested the appointment of a member. That person has since been removed and replaced with another committee member, although Lavavasseur wouldn't comment on who was removed. She said the committee's work was also delayed after some committee members were being harassed in the community because of their involvement in the appeal process. That has since been resolved, Lavavasseur said. – with files from Roxanna Thompson
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