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Mediation falls flat
Day-long mediation in Ottawa between the
Temagami First Nation's two elected councils failed to produce an agreement
yesterday. The councils have been
The Potts council, which controls the band's purse strings, proposed to finish its term and pay the legal costs of the Ayotte council.
The Ayotte council proposed both councils resign and run in a new election and both sides accept the outcome. "They feel they are the strongest [in support] in the community," said Chief Roxane Ayotte. "So why are they afraid to face an election?"
Judge Hughes of the Federal Court of Canada last
week had urged these talks, hoping a resolution would avoid the second
hearing
The division in the community runs deep. McKenzie expressed it too well. "I'm at a point where I don't trust anybody, even our own membership."
That is one admirable and enviable trait of the TFN: it can call a people's assembly, hold a community discussion and make a binding decision in a matter of weeks. If the judge wants to avoid the lawyers' solution, he should encourage, and give the opportunity to, the nation to exercise its strength. Docks taken out by ice "No ice action Tuesday," reports Gerry Gooderham on Lake Temagami, "but lots of docks were destroyed by ice pushed in the winds on Monday." Court hearing on Potts' impeachment Both Temagami First Nation councils have requested a judicial hearing on the March 29 impeachment of Chief Gary Potts. Yesterday's Federal Court hearing on the June 12 election and its backlash will reserve its decision until after the impeachment hearing on May 13. The parties informed the judge in the Ottawa courtroom, held in the imposing Supreme Court building, that today they would hold mediated discussions. The judge privately had pressed this upon counsel for chiefs Ayotte and Potts, and stressed it three times during the hearing. He cautioned, It is always better than anything lawyers can impose.
TFN council stripped
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Photos: Gerry Gooderham |
April 27 Ogama Island, Lake Temagami
Ogama Island ice-out notes by Gerry Gooderham
LAKE TEMAGAMI
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Break-up rolls northward Break-up approaches Temagami as warm air rolls north. This satellite image reveals the transition from ice-free lakes in Muskoka (near Lake Simcoe) to frozen lakes in Temagami and north.
Spring has been teasing us since the second week of March when the temperature occasionally slipped above freezing during the day. Most days since hovered near zero, give or take a few degrees. Open water, right now, is largely limited to the usual early gaps with moving water, like the Temagami, Ottawa (upstream and downstream of Timiskaming) and French rivers, the narrows on Lake Timiskaming and the mouths of rivers, like the Sturgeon on Lake Nipissing. Follow our ice-out watch.
Potts council beleaguered The past week revealed widening cracks in the governance of Chief Gary Potts, who refuses to relinquish his office. Last week's byelection of two councillors was captured by supporters of the Ayotte council. Roxane Ayotte was elected chief in October after Potts ignored irregularities in his own June 12 election and binding decisions of the tribal assembly, the supreme governing body of the First Nation. This is the first time the two camps have fought in the same election. Potts and his council boycotted the last in October. The votes predictably went overwhelming 137 to 44 for Ayotte.
On Sunday, as previously reported, Potts, the 2 remaining June 12 councillors and the second chief were impeached. Monday saw supporters of both camps crowding into the band offices as the Ayotte council arrived to notify the Department of Indian Affairs Canada and the bank of the impeachment results and the tribal resolution passing power to the Ayotte council. Members of the OPP's Aboriginal Relations Team (ART), who are unarmed, plainclothes officers that act as liaison between the community and the police, arrived and remained all week. ART officers had been present during previous tensions since June. Supporters of both camps stayed all night. Potts supporters left the next day and Ayotte supporters continued their sit-in, and intend to remain all weekend. On Tuesday at the offices, two or three women in the Potts camp allegedly assaulted two elderly women in the Ayotte camp. Both went to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Bear Island Police say they are investigating, but no charges have been laid. INAC stuck with its position that it does not acknowledge councils nor does it interfere in customary law elections, as practiced by the Temagami First Nation. Custom law elections follow rules made by a First Nation, rather than those in the Indian Act. The bank backed away from its support of the Potts council, notifying staff and councillors with existing signing authority that they could be personally accountable for cheques they sign. But the bank did not revoke their privileges or change the authority to new signatories as requested by Chief Ayotte. On Thursday, the band office closed early and it did not open today. There is no explanation available at this time. If services to the community continue to be disrupted, INAC will be compelled to bring in third-party management and assume the fiscal duties of Chief and Council.
It was a bad week for Potts.
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