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Article: Judge finds band council "undemocratic".(news)
- Article from:
- Wind Speaker
- Article date:
- March 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta (AMMSA). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In a 37-page decision rendered Feb. 17 by Federal Court Justice Pierre Blais--the first of four applications for judicial review filed by band councillor Marcel Balfour to be decided--the actions of former Norway House Cree Nation chief Ron Evans and several of his councillors were harshly criticized.
Judge Blais ruled that Chief Evans engaged in "usurpation of power" and that a "sub-group" of councillors held numerous "secret meetings" and had engaged in "deplorable blackmail and influence peddling."
Other unusually critical phrases appeared in the court judgement. Blais wrote that Evans and his core supporters on council were guilty of "failure to ...