Conflict between Gwich'in organizations laid bare in court

The Gwich'in Tribal Council has told an N.W.T. Supreme Court judge that Gwich'in leaders in Tsiigehtchic failed to run their last election properly and have not been doing required reports on their spending.

Much of the case, which was heard in a Yellowknife courtroom on Tuesday, focuses on how Gwich'in from Tsiigehtchic who do not live there can participate in elections for Gwichya Gwich'in president and board of directors.

The Gwich'in Tribal Council (GTC) says those non-residents should be able to vote and run as candidates in those elections. In the last election for president and directors, held in May, only Gwich'in who have lived in the community for at least a year could vote or run for office.

"The 2023 election was rife with irregularities that were calculated to, and did in fact, affect the outcome of the 2023 election," wrote the lawyer for the GTC in a brief to the judge.

The GTC alleges that members outside of the community were not given proper notice, because news of it was only posted in Tsiigehtchic and on the Gwichya Gwich'in Facebook page.

The council also alleges that the chief returning officer was a personal friend of Mavis Clark, the person acclaimed as president, and failed to screen her out as a candidate. The GTC says Clark was not eligible to run because she had been suspended by the tribal council for a code of conduct violation.

In the courtroom Tuesday, the lawyer for the Gwichya Gwich'in told the judge, "The 2023 elections were valid and there is no evidence of bias or partiality." He said the chief returning officer was the only person who applied for that job, and Clark was the only candidate who put their name forward for the job of president.

The Gwichya Gwich'in also took exception to the GTC's suspension of funding for it, something the GTC said it had to do because the Tsiigehtchic Gwich'in organization had not been properly reporting on how past funding has been spent.

The lawyer said the GTC had no right to suspend funding, that it had been provided with information detailing how the money had been spent, and that the GTC should have no say in what the Gwichya Gwich'in decide to do with the money they are allotted.

The tribal council is asking the courts to declare the election invalid and order a new one in which Gwich'in outside the community can vote and run. It's also asking the judge to order the tribal council not the Gwichya Gwich'in to appoint the chief returning officer to oversee that election.

The case is now in the hands of Justice Sheila McPherson.