Waywayseecappo council candidate withdraws to protest tiebreaking procedure

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This article was published 28/02/2017 (3167 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the result of a hard-fought election came down to drawing a name out of a hat, Waywayseecappo First Nation council candidate Laura Brandon refused to participate.

She withdrew her name from consideration over the weekend in an act she doesn’t consider a concession, even though Chantel Wilson was therefore elected in her potential place.

Withdrawing her name was both a stand against an unjust system and a moral necessity, Brandon said, explaining that if she had participated in the draw, she wouldn’t have felt positively about either of the two possible results.

If her name were drawn, she would have felt bad for Wilson.

If Wilson’s name were drawn, she would have felt cheated.

Either way, she said, it wouldn’t have been right.

Waywayseecappo follows First Nations Election Act regulations, which require the electoral officer to “conduct a draw to break the tie.”

In Manitoba, the acts that regulate elections at the municipal, school board and provincial levels all require byelections to resolve ties, as does the federal government in the election of members of Parliament.

University of Manitoba head of native studies Peter Kulchyski said that he’d never come across the equivalent of a coin toss to determine an election win.

It’s “not very democratic,” he said, adding that it almost looks as though those who drafted the First Nations Elections Act figured a tied vote would never happen, shrugged it off and plugged in the line about conducting a draw.

“It’s not about luck, it’s about democracy,” Kulchyski said, offering that it, at least, should be.

Kulchyski said efforts to modernize such guidelines have gotten bogged down in the past by the federal government’s “one-size-fits-all” approach, which many First Nations reject in their ongoing efforts to secure a stronger sense of self-government.

Waywayseecappo’s election took place on Friday.

The initial vote count had Brandon defeating Wilson by a single ballot, which triggered a recount.

The recount pegged both candidates at 256 votes, resulting in the draw that Brandon declined to participate in.

Incumbent Chief Murray Clearsky won Friday’s election by a landslide, securing 533 votes. Jake Shingoose, the closest of three opponents, received 166 votes.

Clearsky declined to comment on his community’s recent tiebreaker on Monday, but affirmed that he’s looking into whatever options exist to update their electoral regulations.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada guidelines allow for some alternatives, such as the implementation of “band custom” election systems that First Nations can tailor to fit their community.

“We’re not taking advantage of some things that are available to us, we’re just following what we’re told to do, which is what has happened for hundreds of years, first forcefully and now by ourselves,” Brandon said.

In an open letter to her community’s chief electoral officer, Brandon urged Waywayseecappo leadership, and the leadership of First Nations communities across the nation, to re-evaluate their electoral systems.

Brandon said she’s still interested in becoming a democratically elected councillor in her community and that she’s looking into whether she can appeal Waywayseecappo’s latest election results.

“My path is to just continue what I’ve always done, which is to be involved with the community and to bring awareness to indigenous challenges,” she said.

“My philosophy in life is to live so that my ancestors are proud of me — that what they fought so hard for, that I’m respecting that by continuing to stand up (against) injustice and unfairness and inequality.”

In addition to Clearsky’s re-election and Wilson, a political newcomer, joining council, fellow newcomers Travis Cloud and Joe Gambler were also elected to Waywayseecappo council on Friday.

Incumbents Anthony Longclaws, Tim Cloud and Melville Wabash were all re-elected.

Clearsky said that his main goals throughout his new four-year term would be to further his community’s economic opportunities, including the expansion of the community’s grocery store and the development of land they own just north of Brandon in the Rural Municipality of Elton into an urban reserve.

The First Nations Elections Act was introduced in 2015 as a new electoral framework option for First Nations communities, which 32 First Nations have thus far signed on to, including Waywayseecappo and Birdtail Sioux First Nation.

About 200 First Nations still hold elections under Indian Act and Indian Band Election Regulations.

In the event of a tied vote in communities whose elections are regulated by the Indian Act, the electoral officer is required to cast a winning vote.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

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