New president to lead Metis Nation

Five turbulent years after the last Metis Nation-Saskatchewan (MNS) election was held, voters return to the polls this weekend.

Former president Robert Doucette is not seeking re-election, leaving nine new candidates vying to take over leadership of the troubled organization: Bruce C. Flamont, Steve Fraser, Karen Ann LaRocque, Charlene Lavallee, Lorna Docken Ledoux, Alex Laurent Maurice, Dale McAuley, Glen Hector McCallum and Mike Tanton.

Polls open today at 9 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. A complete list of candidates and voting locations are online at mnselection.ca.

Candidates for vice-president include incumbent Gerald Morin, along with Darren Deschambeault, Cheryl Fiddler-Agran-Reed, Louis G. Gardiner, Miranda Moran and Wayne Whitford.

Three people — Tammy Louise Mah-Fiddler, Lisa McCallum and Ashley Norton — are running for secretary, while three candidates — May Henderson, Roxanne Marie Kennedy and Mary Ann Morin — are running for treasurer.

In addition, 28 candidates in 12 regions are seeking to become either eastern, western or northern representatives.

The MN-S lost its federal funding in 2014 after failing to hold required provincewide legislative assemblies because of discord among the top elected leaders. Last summer, a successful legislative assembly was held in Yorkton and an election date of Feb. 4 was set, but it had to be postponed because the electoral officer fell ill.

Another issue to be addressed by the new MN-S leadership is last year’s Supreme Court decision declaring that the federal government has jurisdiction to deal with Metis rights, as well as program and service issues. It was followed by the signing of an accord in April setting out how the federal government and Metis organizations will jointly set policy priorities.