An enthusiastic group of about 25 protesters held a peaceful march Thursday morning on the Magnetawan First Nation, north of Parry Sound, angry that the Chief and council plan to postpone the territory’s band election. Chief William Diabo said he and his two-member council have delayed the election from April until October due to fears about the spread of COVID-19.
Magnetawan First Nation resident Willard Noganosh was among those taking part in the demonstration which started on the edge of the community and ended near the band administration office. He said the Chief and council’s decision to push the election six months and stay in power was made unilaterally without input from community members.
“To me, that is illegal because we are under the Indian Act. The Indian Act is legislation. It is the law we have to live under. There are no exceptions whether you are a band member or an elected official,” Noganosh said. “They cannot change the election date with a Band Council Resolution. The Indian Act supersedes the resolution. Our election should be held on April 26, 2021.”
Noganash said the other protesters are in agreement with him, the election date simply can’t change and there in no justification for delaying the vote.
“It’s got to stay the same and that’s why these people are here today. We want our nominations posted immediately so we can get on with our election. If there is a change in Chief and council, are their replacements only going to be serving for a year and a half? We don’t know,” Noganosh said. “We have not seen any official documentation from Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller showing they can do this. It’s legislation and you can’t change legislation on a whim. The people here are upset. Some of us learned about this from the news.”
Noganosh agrees with his Chief that the health and safety of Magnetawan First Nation residents should be the priority. But he points out there are currently no active COVID cases on the territory.
Nine members of the community contracted the virus late last year and early this year. Noganash said the territory is now open to outside traffic, the band office has reopened and the Tim Hortons and Esso are both open to the public. He said all those infected with the coronavirus have since recovered and the health of band members is relatively good.
“There’s no COVID. To me that’s a very weak excuse. It’s a desperate grab in my mind for the present Chief and council to stay in power for another six months,” he said.
Noganosh’s brother Lloyd Noganash also took part in the protest and said if the concerns about the spread of COVID are real, then they can hold online and mail-in ballots.
“There is no good reason to postpone our election. There is no pandemic here. People want our election held on April 26,” Noganosh said.
Chief Diabo said he just heard about the protest on Wednesday and he was caught off guard because no one had contacted him directly to complain about the election delay. He said the postponement has support from Indigenous Services Canada and, along with the two councillors, is standing by the decision to delay the election.
“I spoke with both councillors and the only second thought we would have is if there were to be a major media release across the country and around the world saying that COVID is not a problem, well then I wouldn’t think twice about changing the election date back,” he said.
Diabo said he was elected to make decisions in the best interest of his territory’s members and feels strongly that he is doing the right thing by delaying the election.
- John McFadden is a Local Journalism Initiative, MuskokaRegion.com, ParrySound.com and Simcoe.com.
