Tsiigehtchic’s June 18 chief election was overturned last weekend due to mail-in ballots being sent to out-of-town Gwichya Gwich’in members far too late.
Band manager Larry Dalley wants to make sure the community knows what went on to get to that decision.
“Accusations are being made on Facebook, that kind of stuff, and I just want to make sure that everybody is clear (on what happened),” says Dalley.
The election had Russel Andre beat incumbent Phillip Blake by one vote, and it fell within Blake’s rights to appeal the process if he believed that election rules were not followed.
As it turns out, mail-in ballots, which are supposed to be sent out at least 49 days before the election, weren’t sent out until just eight days before the election.
Dalley says he also received “significant amounts” of complaints, in writing, from out-of-town voters who didn’t receive their ballots in time for the election.
After the appeal was made, Dalley was responsible for putting together a four-person emergency election committee to examine and decide on the appeal.
The committee voted unanimously to redo the election, based on the mail-in ballots not being sent out in time and out-of-town community members not getting the chance to vote.
It was a challenge to find people in and around the community who were not members of the band, as is necessary for the committee, says Dalley.
Two people were brought in from Fort McPherson, two were from Tsiigehtchic, and Dalley was the chair. This dynamic, in particular, is something Dalley wanted to explain.
Dalley says his own role, as chair, was limited to presenting the band’s election code and the complaints from out-of-town members.
“I did not have a vote, nor did I contribute to the discussions around whether the election was overturned,” he says, adding that according to the rules, the only time a chairperson could vote would be to break a tie, which was not needed in this decision.
Of the two members from Tsiigehtchic, one was a local store manager and the other was the band’s finance manager, which was not ideal but, “quite frankly, I couldn't find anybody else,” says Dalley. “That's the truth of it.”
“I wore out my time trying to find four local people in the community that weren't band members and didn't present a conflict of interest, but I couldn't find them,” he says. “And so, this was the next best thing.”
A few things need to happen before the next election is called, to avoid controversy playing out again.
The band doesn’t have up-to-date contact information for all the out-of-town members, so it has someone who will spend 50 days getting in touch with the members and updating this information.
He says he’s asked the Gwich’in Tribal Council and Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada – the federal department currently transitioning into separate Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada departments – for help in this.
Dalley says he’s also requesting the NWT’s INAC representative to come to the community and help clear up the elections process.
“Every election here has been contested since 2014,” says Dalley. “And that has to stop. And me being band manager, that falls within my job description to make sure everything is done correctly.”