Women at Whitefish Lake First Nation #128 will be able to vote again after this decision
Two Cree women won a court case that gave women at an Alberta First Nation their right to vote back.
Two election rules at Whitefish Lake First Nation #128 were thrown out by the Federal Court on February 15. One said that people in common-law relationships couldn’t run for office, and the other said that thousands of women couldn’t vote because their mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother had married a man who wasn’t a member of the tribe.
Justice Paul Favel said that the Bill C-31 Voting Policy and the Common Law Marriage Prohibition were against the Constitution in a 69-page decision.The decision has been put off for seven months to give Whitefish Lake time to make changes to its election rules and adopt a membership code.
Karen McCarthy, who was not allowed to vote in the Whitefish Lake elections in April and May 2021 because she was of “Bill C-31 descent,” said, “I’ll be happy the day my mom can actually, finally vote.”
“My mom has never in her whole life been able to vote. And neither have I or my kids, so it has affected three generations of people in my family.”
- Samson Cree is being sued by a group of hundreds of women.
Bill C-31 is a change that the federal government made in 1985 to give registered status back to Indigenous women who lost their rights under the old Indian Act because they married someone who didn’t have status.
‘Wanted a re-election
But Whitefish Lake, like many other bands, said that the amendment violated its Indigenous right to self-government and refused to give back its voting rights.
McCarthy said that Favel’s decision did not go far enough for a First Nation where people’s rights are often broken.
In an interview with CBC News, McCarthy said, “I wanted a re-election because I think that the number of people they keep from voting would change the outcome of the election in a big way.”
“Voter suppression is a very real problem in First Nation communities with bad leadership, like ours.”
In his decision, Favel said that rules about ineligibility had been applied randomly and didn’t come from Whitefish’s customary law. Instead, they were based on harmful colonial ideas.
Favel’s decision also dealt with a constitutional challenge filed by Lorna Jackson-Littlewolf, who was disqualified from running for office in the 2021 election because she was living with her partner.
Election code referendu
Whitefish program manager Rennie Houle was happy with the Federal Court’s decision. He said that the current election laws are out of date, unclear, and unfair.
He said that a vote this week will ask members to agree to a new election code that has been in the works for a year and a half and addresses these problems.
Houle said that the ruling went above and beyond what he had expected because it recognized Whitefish Lake as an independent Treaty 6 nation and not as a part of Saddle Lake.
Even though both communities have a chief and council, the Indian Act treats them as one nation. Saddle Lake has traditionally had more power and wealth because it has more people.
Houle said, “We’re very happy with the decision that was made and the changes that will happen because of this new election law.”
“This is one step toward the Whitefish Lake First Nation figuring out their own way to self-determination, or how they want to run their own government.”
The Whitefish government is the only one holding the referendum this week. On Friday, the results will be made public.
Dennis Callihoo, a lawyer for Saddle Lake, would not say anything. CBC tried several times but couldn’t get in touch with Saddle Lake’s leaders to get their opinion.