(File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Political Unrest

PBCN members heading back to the polls again?

Oct 3, 2019 | 2:01 PM

paNOW has learned members of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) may be going back to the polls for the third time in less than a year and a half.

On Monday, a closed door meeting was held at Prince Albert’s Coronet Hotel involving the band’s election tribunal. They were there to discuss an appeal regarding last month’s byelection, and while the written decision has not yet been released, Warren McCallum, a runner-up in the most recent vote, has claimed on his Facebook page a decision had been made in his favour.

(Facebook/ Warren McCallum)

During a phone conversation with paNOW on Thursday, McCallum confirmed he had received a copy of the tribunal’s written decision, ordering a byelection. McCallum was not available Thursday to discuss the reasons for his appeal, but said he could provide comment on Friday. Darrel McCallum, a third contender in the last election and byelection, received 181 votes and said news of another possible byelection was concerning.

“It is becoming a costly factor and at the same time too, my concern is the integrity of our sovereignty as a band,” he said, adding the political unrest does not make the PBCN government look very strong.

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Based on the comments left on the PBCN Urban Bulletin Board Facebook page, McCallum is not alone in his concerns. Several people posting on the site, discuss their surprise another election may be coming, and also their feelings that band money was being “wasted.”

“You cannot have second guessing non-stop” _{– Todd McKay, Canadian Taxpayers Federation}

A byelection was initially ordered in June, 2018 by the election tribunal after issues were raised during the general election in March of that year. The election tribunal had found there were “irregularities” in the conduct by the returning officer which they claimed could have impacted the outcome of the election. Those irregularities included failure by the electoral officer to properly advertise the election.

The initial byelection had been scheduled to take place the following July, but those plans were shelved when Warren McCallum, who had been declared the winner in the 2018 election, had attempted to appeal the tribunal’s ruling. A federal court judge dismissed the appeal last July, and the byelection followed in August.

Darrel McCallum said he has tried on a number of occasions to find out from Chief and Council how much these elections are costing the band.

“I am a PBCN band member and I have the right to ask those questions,” he said. “So far I’ve been told it’s costing the band a lot of money,” he claimed.

Expenses from the 2018 election and follow up byelections were not available on the Indigenous and Northern Affairs website, with the last financial documents posted by PBCN dating back to 2016-2017. paNOW has attempted to get a comment from Chief Peter Beatty on the political unrest but he has not been available for comment. A letter posted on the Facebook page Wednesday, indicated a community meeting had been scheduled for Oct. 24 at Senator Allen Bird Gymnasium.

(Facebook/ PBCN Urban)

Meanwhile, Todd McKay, Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has helped lead the fight for many First Nations to get improved financial transparency from their elected councils. McKay said it’s very concerning to hear more of the band’s money is being spent on another election, at a time when there are big needs in a lot of these communities.

“There’s a lot of people with inadequate housing and who don’t have access to water and stuff like that. It would be a lot better to put that money into stuff people really need instead of blowing big wads of cash through the court system,” he said.

When asked why the average Canadian should care about the goings on in the PBCN, McKay explained we should all care because democracy is a fundamental human right, adding the electoral system in place for PBCN is clearly not working.

“When somebody wins that needs to be clear, and we need to all have reasonable confidence that person won and won fairly,” he said. “You cannot have second guessing non-stop.”

–

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell