Sask. separatists locked in bitter feud

Fraternal warfare is consuming Saskatchewan’s only registered independence party, with an ousted member threatening a lawsuit to force a leadership change.

Neil Fenske, current leader of the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan (WIP-SK), calls the situation “a hostile takeover attempt.” He said it follows years of pressure from members of the rival Prairie Freedom Movement, including monetary offers to convince him to step down.

Fenske readily admits the party has been violating its own constitution. He said it became “impractical” due to declining membership.

But Harry Frank — who was stripped of his WIP-SK membership last month for being a “detriment to the party” — believes Fenske and his supporters are simply trying to hold on to power.

“The last election was illegal,” he said. “So basically what we’re looking for is to have an open and honest election within the party.”

The party has chosen its past three leaders through a board vote, instead of going to the membership.

“We’re asking them to step down and have an interim leader and an interim board put in place until we can hold elections,” Frank said.

He said a lawsuit is on the way. He claims he has more than 20 current and former members behind him, and has already contacted a lawyer. He doesn’t resist the term “takeover.”

“It’s a takeover by the members that are already in the party to set the party back on track,” he said.

But Fenske thinks the legal threat is an echo of his run-ins with the Prairie Freedom Movement, which has hit a roadblock in its campaign to become a registered party.

WIP-SK — which already has registered status — may have become a prize for the taking.

“I’m thinking they’re having a difficult time getting those signatures, and so that’s why they put the heat on us,” Fenske said.

Frank is a regional co-ordinator for the Prairie Freedom Movement.

Jake Wall, leader of what was then called the Prairie Freedom Alliance, once expressed confidence his nascent party would get the 2,500 signatures needed to get registered. But he said Prairie Freedom has given up on that goal, and is instead looking to build a “movement.”

He said he has no interest in wrestling control of the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan.

“It already has such a bad name and reputation that I don’t want anything to do with it,” he said.

But Wall had once shown great interest in Fenske’s party. He previously organized events under its banner and took control of a party Facebook page, apparently without the approval of leadership.

“They started passing themselves off as the leadership of the party,” Fenske said.

Wall countered that at least one member of the WIP- SK board was present for each meeting. He said the Facebook page was given to him and associates by a former leader.

“Did we try to steal their name? No,” he said. “We were promoting their party in the hopes that we would be able to join with them and actually grow it.”

But he later asked what it would take for Fenske to step down.

“How much money would it take for us to pay you personally to allow us to take over the party?” a text message he sent in April reads.

Wall admits he sent the message. He maintains he was just testing Fenske’s resolve, and called the money “a little bit of something for your retirement.”

“I didn’t offer to purchase anything,” he said. “I put the question out there, but I didn’t offer.”

Fenske said a former associate of Wall’s did make an offer, putting up $20,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to buy a leadership change. Elections Saskatchewan confirmed that such an offer would not contravene any provisions of the Election Act.

Wall said he is only lending moral support to Frank’s lawsuit. But he said he’d be open to a merger if the party changes its ways.

“It would be great to have a registered Western Independence Party in Saskatchewan. We have one that is not doing anything,” he said. “I can’t do anything about it, so I’m just doing my own thing until someone comes and says, ‘OK, let’s make a deal.’”

Fenske said the party allows candidates to run on their own platforms. But it still includes many committed separatists, such as former leader David Sawkiw.

Sawkiw said Frank’s lawsuit is nothing but hot air. He doubts that many of his supporters have ever had much to do with WIP-SK.

“They’re just blowing smoke,” he said.

Complaints about the constitution are unfounded, in Sawkiw’s view. It was written for a bigger party, he said, and some of its provisions are now impossible to follow. At one point, the party didn’t have enough members to fill its board, according to Sawkiw.

“It’s not the Constitution of the United States,” he said. “It’s just a bunch of guys that got together and made some rules up, put it down on a piece of paper and voted on it.”

WIP-SK has chosen to go back to its old constitution, with a convention slated for February.

Frank isn’t convinced a convention would be free and fair. For starters, he won’t be invited, and memberships will be frozen to keep insurgents from taking part.

But Sawkiw said that’s normal in the run-up to a membership vote. He agrees with Fenske that the threatened lawsuit is part of a hostile takeover. It doesn’t surprise him to see the independence movement divided.

“That’s just kind of the nature of the beast. Separatists want to separate.”