Metis federation oust Blais - election in new year

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In what might be described as a reluctant kamikaze mission, board of directors for the Manitboa Metis Federation voted to remove president Ernie Blais and stand for re-election themselves at a Dec. 8 board meeting in the Pas.

Having unsuccessfully tried to remove Blais last month for misconduct, board members voted almost unanimously to put their seats where their mouths were and dissolve the politicized board, as Blais had earlier challenged.

While the decision to return to the polls comes only two months after the last general election, all parties agreed a new mandate was necessary to end the high-pitched political in-fighting.

General manager John Morrisseau will now formally ask the chief electoral officer of Manitoba to conduct the new election, which he estimates will not take place until early April.

In an interview conducted two days before the Board meeting in the Pas, Blais attributed the federation's political problems to a dispute over the board's role.

"I see the board as policy makers and I think that's what the board's supposed

to be doing - policy-making," he said. "Some of the board members see themselves as administrators having control over the federation and everything else, but they don't. Board members are not administrators and they shouldn't have been trying to be administrators."

In the past, some board members became de facto administrators through individual committees, Blais said.

The recent political conflict erupted, according to Blais, when he began to talk of restructuring and removing these powers.

David Chartrand, who put forward the motion to remove Blais for misconduct and the subsequent motion in the Pas, disagreed with Blais' assessment.

Chartrand accused the former president of refusing to meet with board members, share financial information or consult the board before making controversial agreements with the Metis National Council

"What we're after is a leader that's going to be leader, not a boss," he said. "We're there to represent our people and represent our regions. He's got to understand there's two different things here - he's not running a company and we're not paid members of his staff."

The vote to disband the board follows a Nov. 24 Court of Queen's Bench decision restraining some MFF board members from removing Blais.

Blais applied to Manitoba provincial court Nov. 16 for an injunction restraining certain board members from continuing to deny him the presidency after the board voted 13 to 9 to impeach him and locked him out of the Metis' Winnipeg offices.

Board members Chartrand, Denise Thomas and Dianne Henry and federation member Bill Flamand wanted Blais removed from the presidency under Section IX(1) of the MMF Constitution. That article allows the board to remove "any officer" from office for behaving contrary to the federation's best interests.

The four argued the Metis board of directors had the right to remove Blais under the MMF Constitution and that the court had no basis on which to intervene.

But Judge J. Monnin ruled that there was no proof Blais violated the article. Although that section can be used to remove the president, it was incorrectly applied in Blais' case, he said.

In his decision, Monnin also suggested if there was a serious policy dispute, the board or the president should "have the courage and integrity" to use Sections IX (2) or X(5) in the Metis Constitution to disband the entire assembly and call for a new election.

Although Blais stated he intended to run for re-election in the event he was removed from power, he also pointed out that such a contingency was a problem with the federation's present constitution.

"When we talk self-government. I think we have a big flaw in our constitution when 13 people can take you out," he said. "Personally, I think we have to change our constitution. I don't think it is appropriate that board members have the power to over rule the people."

According to Morrisseau, existing soial programs operated by the federation will continue to operate normally.

While he regretted the decision of board members to force a new election, he acknowledged the result was probably inevitable given the respective positions of the board and president.

In a more recent interview, Blais vowed to lead a new election to restore power to the people and that he will be working toward constitutional change before the new election, and warned that reform was necessary to avoid a repeat of what happened in the Pas.

The MMF is not the only Metis society in political turmoil. The Metis Nation of Alberta was also in tatters this fall after some of its board members tried to oust President Gerald Thom over allegations of political misconduct during the election.

RCMP say they are currently investigating several individuals associated with the MNA.