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Deninu Ku'e opts for byelection Paul Bickford Northern News Services Published Monday, January 23, 2012
Raymond Simon, 62, died on Dec. 14 after a battle with cancer. Chief Louis Balsillie said, as far as he knows, the band has never before had a councillor die in office. The chief praised Simon, who was his brother-in-law, for his contributions to Fort Resolution. "It's a big loss not only to council, but to the community," Balsillie said. Simon, who worked as a probation officer, also served as Deninu Ku'e chief for a time in the 1970s. Balsillie said Simon's efforts as a probation officer helped decrease the crime rate in Fort Resolution and he also helped youth by taking them out on the land. "We lost a good person," said the chief. The byelection has been set for Feb. 13. In the last band vote in February of last year, Simon was elected to a four-year term as a councillor. Balsillie said the person elected in the byelection will complete the three years left on that term. The decision by band council to hold a byelection was not automatic. Balsillie said there have been examples in the past where the candidate who was next in line in the previous election - the person with the highest number of votes who failed to win a seat on council - has been called upon to fill a vacancy, or a band member has been appointed by council to fill the seat. "In our code, the way I understood it in the past, the next person in line gets that seat," he said. "That's the way I understood it, but after talking to the lawyer and going through it with the lawyer, it's not necessarily that way." Balsillie said the Deninu Ku'e election code gives band council discretion in dealing with such matters. "The way all council wanted to do it was let the membership decide who they want there for three years," he said. The decision may have been different if the remaining term was for less than a year, he added. "But you're talking a three-year term." Balsillie noted two councillors were elected for only two years in the last election with more votes than the person next in line. "We can't move them up, because they only got a year left in their term." The chief noted holding a byelection was a council decision, not his personally because as chief he only votes in cases of ties. The next candidate in line in last year's elections, Angela McKay, feels she should have been asked to fill the vacant seat. She doesn't buy the argument that a byelection is necessary because there are three years to go in the term. In fact, she noted Balsillie himself was appointed by council without a byelection to replace former chief Bill Norn when he was removed after just six months in office in 2007. "What's the difference?" McKay said, adding she believes a byelection was opted for because she doesn't agree with the way Balsillie is running the band. She noted the band's Customary Election Regulations of 1994 only call for a byelection if a chief dies, resigns or is removed from office, but require the appointment of an elector to council if a serving councillor should die, resign or be removed from office. McKay intends to run in the byelection.
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