Reinstatement puts process in question, says FSIN chief

Chief Barry Kennedy “still (has) faith in our processes” that when chiefs gather at the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations legislative assembly June 5 and June 6 to discuss the position of First Vice Chief, “better minds” will prevail and the decision will be made to comply with an appeals tribunal report.

The chief of Carry the Kettle First Nation was speaking about the re-appointment of Kimberly Jonathon to the First Vice Chief’s position, despite a tribunal ruling that said the Oct. 25, 2012 election of Jonathon was null and void.

Kennedy said that by ignoring the ruling that the FSIN paid more than $100,000 to an appeals tribunal to decide, the FSIN “looks like children, and that we don’t know how to respect our own legislation, we don’t know how to respect one another’s decisions and it looks like we spend money foolishly.”

And Kennedy stresses that it is not an issue of Jonathan not being able to handle the First Vice Chief position, but the FSIN being put in a vulnerable position by the joint executive council and Indian government commission’s decision to reinstate Jonathan after the tribunal ruling.

“That decision puts us, the First Nations who make up the federation, in a liable position and quite possibly in a financially-liable position because any decisions (Jonathan) does make, whether they are right or wrong, could be challenged,” he said.
Last October, Jonathan became the first woman to be elected to a position with the FSIN executive. She beat challenger Sheldon Wuttunee for the position of First Vice Chief by a count of 457 to 448. Wuttunee challenged the result citing a conflict of interest.
On April 16, an appeals tribunal overturned the election results.
A request by Windspeaker to the  FSIN for a copy of the appeals tribunal’s written decision received no response. However, the StarPhoenix obtained the decision and reported that the tribunal had referred specifically to errors by chief electoral officer Loretta Pete Lambert.

According to the StarPhoenix, the tribunal found Pete Lambert in a conflict of interest because she was under contract as the chief electoral officer but was also being paid as the owner of the automated vote tabulation machine.

The report said Pete Lambert knew that the machine was programmed not to reject blank ballots, contrary to the FSIN Elections Act, and she also knew it would unfairly disenfranchise some voters, but she didn’t tell anyone.

Other errors charged against Pete Lambert in violation of the FSIN Elections Act included having a single ballot card for both the positions of chief and first vice chief; not using separate envelopes after the vote to store the rejected, spoiled, properly cast and unused ballots; allowing an unauthorized person to participate in important aspects of the election process; and, failure to protect the integrity of the ballot boxes, which the tribunal found had been tampered with, as the contents of the two boxes were presented to the tribunal in a single box.

Following the tribunal’s decision, FSIN Grand Chief Perry Bellegarde, who won in a landslide in the same election, stated in a news release “We accept and respect the rulings by the Appeal Tribunal. We will continue to be transparent and accountable as we follow our processes.”

But then the matter went before the FSIN’s joint executive council and Indian government commission, which, according to the FSIN Election Act, is charged with a decision on whether a byelection ought to be held to fill the vacancy.

“A byelection shall be called if there are more than eighteen (18) months remaining in the term of office for the executive position being vacated,” but the 34-member commission decided to pass the matter off to the Chiefs-in-Assembly. Jonathan was then reinstated as First Vice Chief.

In a news release from the FSIN following the commission’s decision, it was noted that “the process is considered an internal governance matter and no further comment will be made at this time.”

Kennedy said since he has spoken out about what he considers an unacceptable matter, he has received widespread support from other chiefs.

“I don’t think this is about individuals, Sheldon Wuttunnee or Kimberly Jonathan. It’s about the whole process of the election,” said Kennedy. “Those who still support a fair and democratic process are going to say no, there’s been discrepancies, they’ve been investigated and proven, and we need to call a new election (because) the democratic process is due to everyone, to all the First Nations.”