(Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Political Unrest

PBCN byelection cancelled; federal court agrees to hear appeal

Nov 14, 2019 | 4:29 PM

Plans by Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) to hold a byelection later this month have been shelved, and the woman who was elected urban councillor last August has been re-instated.

The Federal Court of Appeal has granted an application for an injunction. The application had been filed by Krista Eggum, the lawyer representing Clarisse Lecoq.

“Our grounds of appeal were mainly that the [Election] Tribunal was not properly constituted, and did not have the factual basis to set aside the election results,” Eggum said in a statement.

The byelection for PBCN’s urban councillor seat, which would have represented the band’s third election in less than two years, had been scheduled for Nov. 28.

The decision to hold the election came as a result of the band’s election tribunal agreeing to an appeal by Warren McCallum, who finished second in the August election to Lecoq.

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Clarisse Lecoq was one of three candidates nominated at the band’s nomination meeting on Nov. 7. (Submitted photo)

Both the election in March 2018 and the byelection last August were appealed based on concerns with the way the election process was run. Former electoral officer Randy Clarke stepped down after the last election, and was replaced by Charles Whitecap.

A date for the new appeal to be heard by the Federal Court of Appeal has not yet been set, but will likely take place sometime in the new year.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell