Long Plain chief and council fight back against ‘unlawful’ by-election call – The Graphic Leader
Nov 20, 2023
By: Dave Baxter Local Journalism Initiative reporter
A First Nations chief and council are accusing some in their community of unlawfully calling a by-election, after a committee announced plans in the Long Plain First Nation (LPFN) that would see every candidate who ran in their previous election put back on the ballot.
Earlier this week a notice released by a group calling themselves the LPFN By Election Committee said that a by-election will be conducted in the coming weeks that would essentially be a redo of the community’s previous election for chief and council, by putting every candidate that ran back on the ballot before the end of this year.
The committee claims they have determined that a snowstorm on the night of the community’s previous election on April 14, 2022 prevented some LPFN citizens from voting and that may have affected the results.
According to the notice a by-election is scheduled to be held on Dec. 7 in the community, and there are also plans for advanced polls to be held on Nov. 30 in Winnipeg, Dec. 2 in Brandon, and Dec. 5 in Portage la Prairie.
But the community’s chief Kyra Wilson and the band council say they will fight to stop the by-election because they say it was called unlawfully.
