Siksika will vote on new band election code

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Siksika Nation members living off-reserve will be able to vote and run for office in Siksika Nation elections if a new election code is ratified in a referendum to be held this summer.

The residency stipulation of 77(1) of the Indian Act prevents off-reserve First Nation members from voting or running for office in band elections but that is eliminated in the new code.

Section 77(1) states that only those who are ordinarily resident on the reserve are qualified to vote.

"Anybody can run, anybody can vote as long as they're members," said Clarence Wolfleg, past Siksika Nation councillor.

The only eligibility criteria will be that the person voting or running for office must be 18yearsold, be a member of the nation according to the membership code, and have a record clear of any indictable offences, said Wolfleg.

According to surveys conducted by the now-defunct Siksika Urban Association, nearly 50 per cent of Siksika membership resides off-reserve, with the majority residing in Calgary. The survey also revealed that they wanted to be able to participate in band elections.

Rosa Medicine Traveler and Roy Bearchief, long time Calgary residents, said off-reserve residents would make valuable contributions in the way that the Siksika Nation is governed.

Bearchief, a Siksika Nation family services worker, said off-reserve residents would vote more responsibly and the old practice of relying on family for votes would change.

"We'd be able to vote on who we think would really do the job," Bearchief said. "A lot of incumbents are still in there because they get the same voters every, two years. With us it would be brand new people with brand new thinking behind the voting."

Medicine Traveler, who works with the First Nations Contemporary/Traditional Living Skills program, agreed that off-reserve Siksika are more open to change than their reserve relatives because they live in a world that's constantly changing.

"We work hard to get things, getting educated," said Medicine Traveler. "The education you're gaining is not only for yourself but others, the people."

Medicine Traveler said if the election code were accepted she would consider running for office.

The issue of voting rights for off-reserve First Nation members is not a new one; in 1993, off-reserve members of the Batchewana Band in Ontario successfully challenged a move by the Batchewana chief and council to deny them voting rights.

Their challenge was upheld by the Federal Court Trial Division which ruled that section 77(1) is in violation of section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Voting rights for off-reserve Siksika were included in the proposed Siksika Nation Government Act, which was part of the treaty based self-government initiative under former chief Strator Crowfoot who lost his seat in 1995 elections to Robert Breaker who abandoned self-government.

In August 1997 the Siksika Nation chief and council again addressed the issue when it approved the election code. They took it to the people in a referendum but it was defeated by a narrow margin.

The 50+1 per cent needed to ratify the code was not obtained. Wolfleg said a lack of understanding of the meaning of the code by Siksika Nation members contributed to its defeat.

He has been employed by chief and council to coordinate a three-member team of surveyors to distribute copies of the code to the community, answer questions and record comments and suggestions.

"A lot of people said the text is too complicated sometimes it takes a little while to understand it," Wolfleg said. "It's written in legal text."

Although the code will directly affect the lives of off-reserve Siksika should it accepted, it is not clear yet whether chief and council will allow them to vote in the referendum.

"I told them that's an issue that you as the leadership have to deal with," Wolfleg said. "Under the Indian Act system there is a way for the council to say we would like everybody to vote in this change.

The act allows for adoption of a custom election code but restricts participation in referenda to on-reserve residents. Bearchief said he cannot understand why off-reserve Siksika should be prevented from participating in a referendum that would have a significant impact on their lives.

"That doesn't make sense," Bearchief said. "There's got to be a change."