Hooray for the women!
Women aim to seize band office
By: Paul Gackle
Updated: July 10 at 06:50 AM CDT
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Women of the Roseau River First Nation plan on taking over the band office this morning after they decided to "impeach" Chief Terry Nelson and his council.
In the wake of last month's Roseau River water bill fiasco, the male band members approached the women -- who are the final decision-makers in this matriarchal society -- with tobacco, a symbol of spirituality, and asked them to determine the future of the band's leadership.
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Linda Roberts says 12 women will assume position of interim band leaders until election is held in March. (Mike Aporius / Free Press Archives )
Linda Roberts, who helped lead the discussion, said 12 Roseau River women will assume the position of interim band leaders until regular elections are held in March.
Letters to Nelson and his four council members -- Gary Roberts, Lawrence Henry, June Larocque and Keith Henry -- were sent Wednesday night to inform them of their decision.
"You are further directed to CEASE AND DESIST any and all actions... as Chief... of the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation," the letter states. "Your failure to abide by the directives of the traditional systems of the Anishinabe will... confirm your complete disrespect and dishonour to the people of the Roseau River First Nation."
The Free Press attempted to contact Nelson Wednesday evening, but he could not be reached.
Roberts said the band wants to remove Nelson and his council because they have mismanaged funds allocated to the band and have refused to be accountable to the people of Roseau River.
The women's "impeachment" decision is the most recent action in a series of attempts to remove Nelson and his council from leadership. Last month, after the reserve went dry when Nelson refused to pay the band's water bill, Roberts collected roughly 200 signatures asking the minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Chuck Strahl, to remove their leadership.
In June 2007, the band's custom council -- an unelected body that gives all of the 21 families on the reserve a representative in band governance -- called a byelection that Nelson and each of his four council members lost.
But Nelson is challenging the authority of the custom council in federal court. The case will be heard in December. This time, Roberts said, the women will physically take over the leadership offices this morning.
"We're going to lock them out," she said. "They are going to have to leave, we will not be letting these guys in."
The Roseau River women are also sending letters to Ottawa to ask the Canadian government to recognize their decision to impeach Chief Nelson.
paul.gackle@freepress.mb.ca