Long-awaited election set for May 27

The Metis Nation Saskatchewan’s (MN-S) long-awaited election will happen on May 27.

The decision was made during a two-day legislative assembly in Saskatoon over the long weekend.

Loretta Metzger, the MN-S’s new chief electoral officer, said she’s looking forward to getting the ground set for the election.

“The Metis people have been waiting on this for quite a while and they really need to get a new executive in place that can take control of their governance and move them forward,” she said.

The MN-S, which represents roughly 50,000 Metis people in the province, has been in a state of turmoil for years.

Its federal funding was cut off in November 2014 after it went five years without holding a legislative assembly, which it is required to hold twice a year under its constitution.

Without funding, the organization accumulated $725,000 in debts and sold its library to the Gabriel Dumont Institute to pay some of its bills.

The Court of Queen’s Bench eventually got involved in the MNS’s disputes and ordered that a legislative assembly be held.

That happened in Yorkton this summer and members voted to have an election on Feb. 4. At the time, members of the MN-S told Postmedia they were happy the election had been set because the MN-S had been operating like a ship with no one at the helm, and the organization needed leaders who were prepared to negotiate with the federal government on important issues.

However, the MN-S decided late last year to postpone the Feb. 4 election because its former chief electoral officer was dealing with serious health concerns.

This is not the first time an MN-S election was postponed; the last election, in 2012, was delayed because of factional infighting.

Metzger said one of her challenges will be to engage voters. There were fewer than 3,000 votes cast in 2012, down from about 5,000 in 2007.

Former president Robert Doucette, who was first elected in 2007, has said he will not run again.