Amyotte found not guilty in Métis election fraud

The last person charged in relation to the controversial 2004 Métis Nation –Saskatchewan (MNS) election was found not guilty last month, thus ending a dark chapter in Métis politics.

Brian Amyotte faced four forgery-related charges, and a jury of 10 women and two men found him not guilty on all counts.

He whispered “thank you” to the jurors as their spokesperson read the verdicts they reached after a day of deliberating. Amyotte’s wife wiped away tears and hugged him immediately after he was excused.

Seven witnesses were called for the Crown’s case against Amyotte, and most of them were people who had previously been charged. Around a dozen people were charged in connection to the election, which had been found to be fraught with irregularities such as dead people voting and ballot box stuffing. Many of those charged pleaded guilty to their charges and received conditional sentences. Henry Cummings was acquitted of his charges; Dwayne Roth, the former president of the MNS, had his charges stayed; and Ralph Kennedy was the only person to receive a jail sentence. He was granted an early release after serving a few months of his one-year term.

One of the Crown’s key witnesses was Cheryl Gervais, who worked in the MNS regional office in North Battleford with Kennedy, who is her uncle, and Amyotte. She testified she’d grown up around Métis politics all her life, but had hoped at first to not have anything to do with the election because it was causing so much bickering in her family.

She testified, though, that she was told by her uncle and Amyotte that she would work the Marshall poll. When she said she didn’t want to, she said they asked her, “Do your kids like to eat?”

Gervais had eight children at the time and says she needed her job.

Gervais told the court Amyotte and Kennedy gave her lists of people to add to the voters’ list, and she says she didn’t know who the people were.

“Three-quarters of the people on there didn’t exist. I know that for a fact. There are probably 15 to 20 members in the local,” she said.

More than once in her testimony she told the court, “I don’t think it’s fair he’s trying to plead not guilty. We’re all guilty.”

When asked in cross-examination if she didn’t like Amyotte and thought he should be found guilty because “misery loves company,” Gervais denied that, saying “Everybody had a part in it. I took responsibility for my actions, and he should do the same.”

Gervais’ uncle, Kennedy, took the stand after her. He testified he never added people to the voters’ list and that he had little involvement in the ballot box stuffing that occurred during the election.

“I heard rumours of ballot stuffing, but I never did it. I never had conversations about it,” he said.

Five other people testified for the Crown’s case, including Albert Delaire, who claimed he and Kennedy were the “masterminds” behind the election fraud, although he was never charged. It came out during cross-examination Delaire himself is facing 11 counts of fraud after more than $500,000 was misappropriated from the Métis Addictions Council of Saskatchewan Inc., and Stevenson suggested Delaire only gave a statement about the election after he was charged in order to help his own case.

The RCMP corporal who led the investigation in the area in question also testified, along with smaller players in the election fraud.

Four witnesses testified in the defense’s case, including a woman who worked with Amyotte and Gervais in North Battleford; Tina Pollard, who was originally supposed to work at the Denholm poll and is now married to Amyotte’s nephew; Gordon Amyotte, Brian’s brother; and Brian Amyotte himself.

Amyotte testified he was a thorn in the side of Kennedy and those aligned with him.

“They were always trying to get rid of me,” he told the court. “I always questioned what they were doing – why just their families were benefitting.”

He said once he decided to run for regional director, he approached Kennedy. He added that they talked about working together to get some “regular” people into positions.

Amyotte testified he had conflicts with Gervais, because he was on a board of directors and that made him her boss.

He said she didn’t accept that and told him he “shouldn’t even be there because he was uneducated.”

Amyotte says when he was first shown the voters’ list for Denholm, it was from the Elections Commission, and he said it contained names of people who had since passed away or moved away. He says he sent the changes to the elector office, but said when it was sent back, the changes still hadn’t been made. He testified he drove the document to Prince Albert to make sure it got there.
He also told the court he never attended any meetings regarding strategizing for the election.

It came out during earlier testimony Amyotte was telling people not to talk to police, and he testified he did that because he felt it was an invasion.

“Police shouldn’t be involved until our government tells the other government,” he testified, because he believed the Métis Nation Legislative Assembly should have handled the issues around the election.

Amyotte is not sure if he will ever rejoin Métis politics and that he and his wife are just relieved and thankful to have the ordeal behind them.