Calgary Friendship Centre will hold re-elections

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The Calgary Native Friendship Society has decided against launching an appeal contesting a judge's ruling that the Board of Directors May 24 elections are invalid. Instead they will hold a re-election at an unspecified time in the near future. The date of the special meeting and the re-elections will be decided after board members meet with the plaintiff in the case, George Chatsis.

The court case resulted from the dispute about the validity of proxy votes cast in the Calgary Native Friendship Society's Board of Directors elections of nine of its 12 members. The society's constitution is vague on how proxy votes are to be used. But according to the judge's ruling on January 10 the use of the proxy in the May election was unconstitutional.

Chatsis claims that some of his supporters phoned the Calgary Indian Friendship Centre to find out if they could use proxy votes. They were told they had to be present at the elections to cast a vote. "It was done intentionally," he says.

The board's decision to hold a re-election rather than to appeal the case does not surprise him at all. "They have no choice. They can't appeal. It's a black and white case. Voting by proxy was dead wrong," Chatsis says.

Calgary Native Friendship Society president Aurele Dumont doesn't feel there was any wrongdoing in the May 4 election. Nonetheless he agrees with the board's decision to hold re-elections rather than to fight the case. "It would have been a long, expensive legal procedure. And we don't have the money. We're talking about program money for the centre and we don't feel we should play with that," Dumont commented.

For his part, Chatsis said that he is not planning to run in the new elections. He has not renewed his membership for the society, and that makes him ineligible to run for board membership. Chatsis does not plan to renew it until he sees more accountability from the board. His concern in bringing the case to court was simply to see "some fairness done."

A press statement released by the Board of Directors February 2 says that the Calgary Native Friendship Society does not hold any animosity towards Chatsis and his supporters and that in the name of Native brotherhood and unity new elections will be held.