By Bryan Eneas

Year in Review: The saga of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation

Dec 30, 2017 | 1:34 PM

As 2017 draws to a close, paNOW is taking a look back on the most important and impactful stories of the year, selected by our reporters and editorial staff.

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It was a year of two’s in the Montreal Lake Cree Nation; two people have laid claim to the chief and band manager positions following two separate elections.

It all started in February, when chief and council called for a general election as mandated by the Cree Nation’s election act. An election was hosted at the end of March; three appeals were filed and eventually the Appeal Tribunal reached a decision.

One candidate for chief, Frank J Roberts, was found to have strong enough grounds the Appeal Tribunal called for a by-election. Chief Electoral Officer Clifford Bird called for a by-election for the position of chief in a statement which listed Roberts, along with Joyce Mcleod and Roger L Bird as candidates.

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Chief Edward Henderson’s name was absent from the by-election ballot – the Chief Electoral Officer’s notice stated he had not submitted a declaration of intent to run for the position of chief.

Prior to ballots being cast in the by-election, Roberts’ contenders in the vote submitted written requests to formally remove themselves from the process. Because he faced no opposition, Roberts was declared chief by acclamation.

In a press release issued on Dec. 1, 10 days after Roberts was declared chief, Henderson stated the by-election wasn’t mandated by chief and council; the Chief Electoral Officer’s call for another vote was illegitimate.

Roberts has maintained he is the Cree Nation’s chief through correspondence with paNOW. Henderson’s statement said he was the Cree Nation’s chief and as chief, he issued a call for a complete re-election with dates set into the new year.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) said they would not be intervening in the election as the Cree Nation operates under a custom election code as opposed to an INAC election code.

Each chief candidate also has their own band manager so to speak. Roberts hired a new band manager upon his appointment; the acclaimed chief said the former band manager had been removed from his position.

Henderson had worked with Mark D’amato, the previous band manager, for the entirety of his previous term as chief. Through emails with paNOW, D’amato disputed the claim he had been fired and said any Band Council Resolutions issued by the acclaimed chief would not be recognized.

D’amato reaffirmed his support for Henderson when he said he believed Henderson had done the right thing in calling for a general election, which put every elected position up for a vote.

Financial situation murky

Emails sent to paNOW showed the band was operating with a deficit of nearly $20 million. Operating lines had been extended six times between 2016 and 2017. Due to the extentions, the First Nations Bank of Canada raised concerns with the bands operations.

“Total outstanding obligations for MLCN is just shy of $20 million,” the email sent to band officials on Nov. 7 read. “Budgets need to be formulated and communicated to the bank so we can work together.”

D’amato, the band manager who Roberts said has been replaced, said the figure was incorrect. He argued, using consolidated financial reports issued in March of 2017, the band was operating under a deficit of roughly $11.5 million.

Roberts said he and his new band manager were working on strategy to address the bands financial situation.

“We’re at a changing point in our Cree Nation where we’re taking back our governance structure,” Roberts said. “We’re working with the bank at rectifying this situation and we have an action plan in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas