Petition aims to reduce chief’s powers

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This article was published 01/04/2021 (1676 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A petition calling for amendments to the Sioux Valley Dakota Oyate constitution is currently in circulation.

The petition calls for the elected chief to have fewer powers.

“We will not give the chief of the community sole authority and vetoing power over operational decisions made by elected council members,” the petition states.

“The current climate has raised an awareness of how the constitution was originally passed and we need legal interpretation on how valid the constitution was, when band members were paid $20 to vote and there are no voting records on file.”

The petition comes after four council members at Sioux Valley Dakota Nation took issue with Chief Jennifer Bone’s leadership, accusing her of running a dictatorship at the reserve.

“For those of us who believed you and voted for you to be chief on the promises you would be a leader, not a dictator! Shame on you!” states the Feb. 11 letter, signed by four councillors.

“For you to utilize the constitution and exercise your power and authority under what you yourself agreed was a greatly flawed document not truly representative of how the community wanted elected leadership to operate is undermining the intent of the self-government agreement.”

The four councillors are Jamie Hall, Elton Taylor, Evelyn Pratt and Tony Tacan. None wanted to speak on the record about the matter. Bone also declined to speak with The Brandon Sun, saying the matter is internal. A second attempt to reach her went unanswered.

This matter came to a head when Bone, according to several sources, reinstated her aunt, Margaret Roscelli, as health director, despite a group letter from staff that had her removed from the position.

The Sun is also in possession of legal advice from lawyer Harold (Sonny) Cochrane, in response to an email request from Pratt. That document references correspondence between the councillors and Bone.

Pratt asked for clarification on the roles and responsibilities of chief and council, specifically with regard to the powers of a quorum of council versus powers of the chief.

“What is important at this point is to determine whether there is any substance to Jennifer’s position that as chief she can veto decisions made by a quorum of council,” Pratt said.

Cochrane, who is the counsel for the First Nation, states in his advice that it depends on the nature of the decision — whether operational or about governance. Operational decisions can be vetoed by the chief, while governance decisions with a chief and council quorum cannot.

While Sioux Valley is now self-governing, the band does remain connected to the Indian Act in matters of governance — specifically that chief and council must make their governmental decisions by a majority vote.

“It may be the current dispute between chief and five councillors is more nuanced than we appreciate. As indicated, we are not fully apprised of all the objective facts,” Cochrane states.

Cochrane recommends a traditional form of mediation. He could not be reached for comment.

“If mediation does not work or is not acceptable to both sides (both sides need to want to resolve the matter for a mediation to work), it is our view that both sides have raised issues that need to be thoroughly investigated in an impartial manner, only then can a final legal opinion be formulated,” Cochrane states.

The band members who provided the documents to the Sun asked that their names be withheld, for fear of reprisal. But their greatest concern has to do with an election promise of a forensic audit into the band’s financials. That hasn’t happened, they said.

Meanwhile, band member Misty Wasteste is deeply concerned. She’s the one who is circulating the petition, supported by roughly a dozen other band members gathering signatures.

Two new and complex laws are up for a vote — the Citizenship Law and the Election Law.

Wasteste says the vote for the laws is being pushed through too fast, mostly because an election is scheduled to be held in the fall.

Wasteste’s position is that the community has not been adequately consulted, especially regarding the new laws being formulated. She tried to hold a limited community meeting, with physical distancing and other health-related protocols. She invited the leadership, as well as elders.

That meeting did not go exactly as planned, she said.

Wasteste said the meeting was to help resolve the issues raised by council members and Cochrane, issues several other members have raised with the Sun.

She referred to Manitoba NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine.

“She challenges (Premier Brian) Pallister. And she does a good job with it. She says he’s trying to pass these laws in a pandemic when there hasn’t been any community engagement. This is where I’m saying to people, look, the chief and council are allowing these laws to be voted on in a pandemic,” Wasteste said.

“Let’s stop. How can we get community engagement? If I could do that, going to different elders, meeting with them, and talking with them … these committee members can do that.”

The petition she is circulating is intended to amend the constitution to ensure an elected chief cannot make decisions on their own, Wasteste said.

She’s not alone in that sentiment. Wasteste also said many of the membership are not reading the material and those who don’t really have any way to get their questions answered. The membership does not have access to how decisions are made.

Wasteste said it would be easy enough to have chief and council meetings televised, such as the City of Brandon does.

“I get COVID. I get that. But there are buildings we have with the community where you can sit six feet apart. We can sit six feet apart and have a discussion. What do you think? What do you want in here? I want to hear what you have to say. Do you understand this part of this law? Do you understand that? If not, it’s OK. It’s OK. You don’t have to know. But I’ll explain that to you the best way that I can,” she said.

Wasteste wants transparency and accountability in the leadership, but she also wants each Sioux Valley member to know they have rights.

“People fear, right? They’ll agree with you because they don’t want to admit that they don’t understand what you’re saying. And because of judgment. But I want people to know it’s OK if they don’t understand. It’s OK to ask questions, give their opinion.”

» mletourneau@brandonsun.com

» Michele LeTourneau covers Indigenous matters for The Brandon Sun under the Local Journalism Initiative, a federally funded program that supports the creation of original civic journalism.