(File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Election debate

Federal court rules in favour of PBCN election tribunal; byelection back on

Jul 10, 2019 | 3:00 PM

A byelection will be going ahead for Peter Ballatyne Cree Nation (PBCN), and the elected urban councillor must step down, following the outcome of a recent court decision.

Warren McCallum’s application for a judicial review of a decision by the band’s election tribunal was denied. The Federal Court found the PBCN election tribunal had not made any errors when they ordered a byelection in May of last year.

McCallum was one of the candidates vying for the urban councilor position in the April, 2018 election. He would win by 26 votes but the results were appealed by Clarice Lecoq. At the end of a hearing the next month, the PBCN election tribunal ruled that due to irregularities in conduct by the returning officer Randy Clarke, it could have affected the outcome of the election, and ordered a byelection be held.

Peter Abrametz Sr. was the lawyer representing Clarice Lecoq. He told paNOW the irregularities including not advertising the advance poll and election polls in the local media.

“He did on the band’s website identify advance polls and polling locations in Saskatoon and Prince Albert that were changed at the last moment without appropriate advertising or notice,” he said.

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The court also heard that on the ballot boxes in Prince Albert, there was a taped ballot with names of all the candidates. and on one of the boxes there was an “X” beside Warren McCallum’s name.

At a hearing this past May, McCallum argued to the federal court, trial division, which was held at the Prince Albert Provincial Court, that the appeals tribunal had made errors.The decision last Friday means a byelection must be held and Warren McCallum must step down as urban councillor.

paNOW has reached out to Warren McCallum, Randy Clarke and PBCN Chief Peter Beatty for comment. They have not been available. As of Tuesday, there was no mention of a byelection on PBCN’s website. Warren McCallum was also still named as the urban councilor.

Editor’s note: This story has been amended to correct that Abrametz was representing Lecoq and was not the lawyer for Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell