A protest was held Nov. 11 at the band hall in Canoe Lake. (Blackstone CLCC/Facebook)

By Derek Cornet

band election

Canoe Lake protesters demand hundreds of members be added to voters list

Nov 13, 2020 | 4:40 PM

Hundreds of Canoe Lake Cree Nation band members can’t vote for their council and a protest was held this week to demand answers from leadership as to why.

“There’s a lot of members who are supposed to be voters, currently, and are not on the voters’ list as we understand,” said protest organizer Terry Durocher. “I’m a voter in Canoe Lake and my kids are not voters, but they grew up here. I always thought that was really unfair.”

There were two main reasons for the protest held Nov. 11 outside the band hall including an equality vote in 2016 that was never implemented. In Canoe Lake, voters need to be 6(1) status while those who are 6(2) status can’t participate in band elections. In the 2016 equality vote, it was reported 174 people voted to extend voting rights and 42 people declined.

The referendum was successful as it needed 50 per cent plus one vote to pass, but was never phased into the membership code. Chief Francis Iron was quoted as saying at the time it was a big accomplishment.

“In that equality vote in 2016 that was done, that should have brought in all the members as equal members,” Durocher said.

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The second reason for the protest was because other members who should have been added to the voting list through the federal Bill S-3 never were. That bill came into effect in 2017 and was meant to target disenfranchised women and their descendants who should have either received their status or had their status upgraded. In Canoe Lake, Durocher claimed those individuals weren’t added to the voters’ list either.

Voting for band leadership in Canoe Lake isn’t open to all members. (Blackstone CLCC/Facebook)

Judith Iron, another organizer of the protest, said about 50 people attended. She also noted protesters came from many different communities, but they are all band members of Canoe Lake. Iron is shown in a video on social media confronting Chief Iron about why changes to the voters’ list were never made.

“On Oct. 17, they posted the notice an election was going to be had, but they did not update the voters’ list,” Judith Iron said. “A lot of people were disappointed and upset because they should have been put on the voters’ list.”

Changes to the list are unlikely as campaigning for chief and council are currently underway in Canoe Lake. Election day will be held Dec. 16.

larongeNOW reached out to Canoe Lake leadership for comment, but didn’t receive a response by publishing.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno