Natives Win Decision On Elections
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario (AP) -- Four members of a native band have
won a precedent-setting decision that could give off-reserve natives
across Canada full voting rights in band elections, says the lawyer who
won the case.
A Federal Court judge has ruled that a provision in the Indian Act
outlining parameters for native elections isn't valid because it
contravenes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Four off-reserve members of the Batchewana First Nations band had
argued the act's provisions threatened their equality and freedom of
association under the charter.
"This is a real victory to the law of equality rights for natives,"
said defense lawyer Raymond Colautti. "The government will have to go
back to the drawing board and come up with a fairer system."
The federal government has until July 1, 1994, to change the act.
Only 454 of the Batchewana band's 1,426 members live on the
reservation. The rest live in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and elsewhere in
Canada.
Colautti argued the band should be exempted from the act because
only a third of its members live on the reserve.
The case is believed to be the first legal challenge of Sec. 77 of
the Indian Act. It states bands can determine their electorate based on
council's wishes or by custom.