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PEHDZEH KI/WRIGLEY
The leadership of Pehdzeh Ki First Nation is still in place after a second petition countered an earlier one asking for the chief and council's removal.

The first petition, dated Aug. 20, was signed by 34 residents. It stated that the signatories had no confidence in the leadership due to, "no communication, no support and poor role model management within their roles, conflicts of interests and not being fair in decisions."

Wrigley has a population of 116, according to the NWT Bureau of Statistics.

Three community meetings were held in relation to the petition on Oct. 30, Nov. 2 and Nov. 5. At the third meeting a second petition was brought forward asking for Chief Tim Lennie and the current council to remain in place.

Band member Gaylene Moses, who started the original petition, said she gave up when she saw the second petition.

She was unsure how many signatures the competing petition had but guessed it was close to 25.

"I tried to make a change, but I guess the membership likes the way the community is running," she said.

Moses was hoping to implement family representation as a way to fill the band council. It would have involved each of the family groups by last name deciding on one member of their family to sit on the council.

"I thought it would be fair," she said.

Despite being discouraged that no leadership changes were made, Moses said she still wants the chief and council to deal with ongoing issues including better communication with the membership, fairness in the hiring process and developing strategies for the future.

"I want to go forward, I want membership to be involved," she said.

Lennie said he and the band council have made every attempt to keep the membership informed about work that is being done and decisions that are being made.

"If there's a lack of communication is it the leadership's problem?" he asked. "It's a two-way street."

People have to be present at meetings in order to hear what the leadership is working on, he said. Lennie said his main concern currently is stabilizing the First Nation and the community.

"You need to look at a lot of the stuff in the community that is happening holistically," he said.

The leadership has to address political, social and economic issues and often has very few resources to do so. Lennie said he hopes to have a plan in the new year for how to address the different areas.

"For me things have got to continue and things will continue with or without me at the end of the day."

Lennie said he was surprised to see a petition come forward to keep the leadership because usually petitions have the opposite purpose.

"It was a first for me," he said.

Despite that the petition didn't change the make-up of the current leadership, Lennie said there may be changes in the new year.

Although he has a year left on his term, Lennie plans to hold an early election for the position of chief, possibly in the summer.

The band council also plans to hold a byelection in the near future to fill two vacant seats on the council.

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