Judge agrees Red Pheasant vote ‘did not meet the smell test’ but refuses to overturn results

SASKATOON A federal court judge has dismissed a Red Pheasant First Nation band member’s latest attempt to overturn the results of a band election two years ago on the grounds that it violated the federal First Nations Election Act.

In a 99-page decision handed down in late November, Justice Glennys L. Mcveigh acknowledged that the 2016 election on the First Nation west of Saskatoon was a “complex web of intrigue” featuring a divided band and a “toxic environment.”

Mcveigh also noted in the decision that the respondents — the chief and five councillors — brought their actions into question by giving money during the election campaign, and that some band members volunteered to sell their votes.

“Many incidents do not meet the smell test but nor do they meet the standard of proof to find a breach of a prohibition,” Mcveigh wrote before concluding on a balance of probabilities that the First Nations Election Act had not been breached.

“Even if there was a contravention found in the evidence it is not likely to have affected the results of the 2016 election,” Mcveigh continued in the decision, which awards costs in a lump sum of $100,000 to the First Nation.

The application, filed by Michelle Good, alleged “corrupt practices” such as vote-buying, forgery and purchasing mail-in ballots. In a brief of law, Good alleged there were “nefarious” attempts to subvert her appeal.

Good could not be reached for comment. Nor could Red Pheasant First Nation Chief Clinton Wuttunee

or the First Nation’s lawyer.

Mcveigh’s decision comes two years after the election, and a year after some Red Pheasant band members expressed concern about Good’s application to overturn the election results getting bogged down in the court system.

Archie Nicotine told the Saskatoon Starphoenix last summer that he worried the band was spending more and more money on legal fees.

“Meanwhile, our reserve is in poverty. It’s just sad,” he said.

Red Pheasant was one of the first, if not the first, band in Canada to have a member criminally convicted in connection with a vote buying scheme. That happened in 2009, four years after the 2005 election.

Former Chief Charles Meechance pleaded guilty; the election was subsequently overturned by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

In her decision, Mcveigh noted that the results of every one of the band’s recent elections have been appealed.