Push to remove Liard First Nation chief grows after meeting for members
CBC
Grassroots organizers say they're confident most Liard First Nation members will support ousting its chief.
Following a community meeting Tuesday, calls to push out Chief Stephen Charlie appear to be growing.
Members of First Nation gathered at the town's recreation centre in Watson Lake, Yukon, to vote on a non-confidence motion to remove him.
The meeting was organized by Dene Ā́ Nezen, a group which formed in October to address concerns around Charlie's leadership. This month, two of the group's organizers were fired for publicly criticizing the First Nation's governance.
Over 100 members showed up in person and via Zoom to express their concerns on Tuesday. Three out of six councillors were also there, with a fourth expressing support but unable to attend.
Dene Ā́ Nezen leaders have been collecting signatures from members on a petition to remove Charlie for weeks, and efforts to reach the simple majority needed to oust the chief from office are still underway.
Organizers Diana Lee Jimmy and Emeral Poppe said they need roughly 527 signatures — 50 per cent plus one, of the voting membership — to remove Charlie. They currently have 170 signatures. Still, they see Tuesday's vote as a victory.
On Tuesday, Charlie addressed the turmoil within the First Nation publicly for the first time in a letter posted to social media.
"It saddens me to have to write this letter to the membership of Liard First Nation, but I can no longer remain silent as my character, my leadership and even my father are attacked," he wrote. "These individuals are spreading lies that question the motivations behind my leadership."
Charlie also wrote that Tuesday's meeting was not official or sanctioned by the First Nation.
He said the only "recognized mechanism" to remove a chief is through a petition with over 50 per cent of Liard First Nation (LFN) members' signatures.
He also accused CBC of airing "harmful falsehoods" in its radio coverage of Dene Ā́ Nezen. Charlie declined a request for an interview.
"LFN is not under third-party management," Charlie wrote in the letter.
During the meeting, that issue was raised by an LFN member. Even the First Nation's own officials aren't sure.
A group of children in the St. John’s neighbourhood of Shea Heights were playing outside last spring, when they made a shocking discovery.
Erin Sheppard's family was excitedly waiting Saturday afternoon to take a direct flight from Halifax Stanfield International Airport to Cancun, Mexico.
N.B. Power's ongoing rate hearing has been told that plans to spend $88.4 million over three years on outside experts to help fix chronic reliability problems at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station might not show results immediately but will pay off eventually.
As the province doubled down on its “tough on crime” measures and calls for federal bail reform this week, rates of violence across Ontario jails — both inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff assaults — are rising, according to an analysis of data shared with CBC News by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
Finance Minister Eric Girard is set to table Quebec’s provincial budget on Wednesday — less than a month before the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) chooses a successor to Premier François Legault.
Manitoba's finance minister says the NDP is funding education adequately, yet won't acknowledge some school divisions are raising taxes because they feel provincial funding hasn’t kept pace.
Saskatchewan's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) says an RCMP officer who struck a teen with a police truck during a high-speed chase on Kawacatoose First Nation last year should not be charged.
Finance Minister Jim Reiter unveiled his footwear for Wednesday's provincial budget: The same black shoes as last year.
A new report by the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters highlights the importance of investing in transportation in rural parts of the province in order to save lives.
B.C. Premier David Eby has signalled he won't support the federal government's move to temporarily increase rural employers' allowances for temporary foreign workers, saying there should be a pathway to permanent residency instead.
P.E.I. Progressive Conservative MLA and cabinet minister Mark McLane has died, with Premier Rob Lantz paying tribute to his colleague as someone who could always be counted upon.
Whitehorse city council is considering a proposal to study 14 lots throughout the city for housing development.
In the closing days of the NDP leadership race, Avi Lewis's past activism has resurfaced. But the front-runner's campaign is standing by his past work and a decade-old vision that's been both criticized within the New Democrats' ranks and weaponized by their opponents.