N.W.T. Supreme Court rejects injunction against Gwich'in grand chief

An N.W.T Supreme Court judge has dismissed an attempt to stop the Gwich'in Tribal Council grand chief from exercising his powers.

The Nihtat Gwich'in Council in Inuvik and the Ehdiitat Gwich'in Council in Aklavik were challenging Grand Chief Frederick Blake Jr. and other board members over decisions made at a controversial board meeting in February.

Justice Annie Piché said she wasn't convinced the injunction should be granted, and the decisions made at that meeting still stand. She said reversing those and preventing Blake from acting as grand chief could cause uncertainty to the Gwich'in participants. 

About a dozen people attended the hearing in person and via teleconference.

The Gwich'in Tribal Council has been mired in a legal back-and-forth over the legitimacy of Blake's election since the election took place last August. It postponed its decision to call a new election over broken campaign rules, after Blake asked the N.W.T. Supreme Court to intervene. The court ruled in January that he had been duly elected and a new election shouldn't happen. The tribal council then said it was planning to appeal.

The Feb. 3 meeting that was in dispute this week was held in Edmonton and was called by Blake and his supporters.

In court documents, the plaintiffs in the case called that meeting a "hostile takeover" of the tribal council, arguing that it was not an official board meeting because Blake had not yet been formally sworn in as grand chief when he gave notice of the meeting on Jan. 22.  They also say the meeting was illegal because it broke the council's own bylaws in several ways.

They asked the court to void all motions passed that day, and ban Blake from acting as grand chief until he was confirmed as grand chief.

Several motions were passed at that February meeting, including the firing of the Gwich'in Tribal Council's chief executive officer, as well as major staffing and governance changes. Blake was also granted about $150,000 in back pay dating to the day of the grand chief election, in August.

No board members from Inuvik or Aklavik attended the meeting.

In her decision, Piché said Blake's conduct didn't reflect good governance or the best interest of the tribal council. But she said it didn't rise to the level of invalidating the decisions.

She said the motions could still be debated or reversed at a future board meeting.

Piché also argued the Inuvik and Aklavik councils could have attended the meeting, they just chose not to. But they still have the right to voice their opinion and vote on the decisions. 

Piché added one of the resolutions was already agreed upon by the board members well before the Feb. 3 meeting, which was to restore funding to the Gwichya Gwich'in Council and the Tetł'it Gwich'in Council.

'Lot of finger-pointing'

Piché said she did not believe any of the Gwich'in councils were acting in good faith. She said she saw deliberate efforts to prevent Blake from taking office, even though he was elected by the Gwich'in people.

She said she hopes her decision deters bad governance conduct going forward.

In closing, Piché said there has been a lot of "finger-pointing" and blame from both parties, and they both share the responsibility for the situation they find themselves in.

Blake's lawyer, Toby Kruger, told CBC News that his client is happy with the decision. 

"Mr. Blake is glad that the courts saw the justice of the matter here," Kruger said.

"Mr. Blake expects that all parties will now put aside any suggestion that he is not the proper grand chief of the Gwich'in Tribal Council."

Kruger said all parties can now focus on governing rather than wasteful litigation.

The dispute is still not over. The sides are scheduled to be back in court again on May 13 to discuss an out-of-court settlement the Nihtat and Ehdiitat Gwich'in Councils say was reached that would end the dispute about the legitimacy of Blake's leadership.