The three-member board tasked with looking into election appeals in Thessalon First Nation will finally get to look into the appeals of last year’s elections for chief and council.
A lawyer for the First Nation handed three election appeals over to the appointed appeals committee July 5 — approximately eight months after leadership and administration staff at the band office blocked board members from handling the appeals process.
At least two appeals of the Nov. 17, 2023 elections filed by band members were subsequently denied by Thessalon First Nation staff.
“I’m happy that we got to finally get to view them and do our original jobs. But you know, it’s eight months after the fact,” said appeal board member Levi Laundrie. “It would’ve been nice to be able to do our jobs when we were supposed to be able to do them. It’s a little bit disheartening.”
The appeal board said it had initially reached out to band manager Lesley Boulrice after failing to receive any appeals from band members following the elections, according to an open letter addressed to Thessalon First Nation and its community members in December 2023.
“Our inquiries were met with a cryptic email citing privacy concerns and a subsequent response stating that ‘the matter has been resolved’ without providing details of the resolution,” the letter said.
The move was in clear violation of Section 7.2 of the First Nation’s custom election code, which clearly states it’s the responsibility of the appeal board to supervise and administer all election appeals, and that the board holds office until all appeals have been dealt with.
Members of the appeal board were appointed by the previous chief and council 15 days prior to the Nov. 17 election in accordance with Thessalon’s election code.
In January, SooToday reported that two band members filed applications for a judicial review in Federal Court after their election appeals were denied by staff members at the First Nation.
Now, it appears as though their appeals will receive another look.
The development is welcome news for Cora-Lee Simon, who filed one of the Federal Court applications after her appeal was denied in a December 4, 2023 letter from Carol Bobiwash, a communications director for Thessalon First Nation who was brought in by leadership to facilitate the electoral appeals process.
"Finally, it’s being done,” Simon told SooToday last week. “It took forever, it seems.”
Simon filed an appeal alleging that only one set of colour-coded ballots were distributed to voters as opposed to two — one to elect a chief, and another to elect members of council — on election day as specified in Section 5.5 of Thessalon’s custom election code.
“In the election code, that’s what it indicates, but when we got the ballots it was all on one sheet,” she said.
Thessalon First Nation Chief Joe Wabigwan declined a request for comment made by SooToday last week.
Wabigwan was elected chief of his community following the Nov. 17 election, defeating former chief Edward Boulrice by a margin of 64 votes in a four-way race to lead the small First Nation east of Sault Ste. Marie.
Lisa Boulrice, Roxanne Boulrice, Mary Ann Giguere, Robert Simon Sr. and Robert Simon Jr. were all elected to seats on council. Giguere was the lone member of the previous chief and council to retain her seat at the leadership table.
Wabigwan pledged to "remove any staff members who have not followed" the First Nation's election code as part of his electoral platform leading up to the band elections.
Thessalon First Nation posted a statement to social media Monday, confirming that appeals filed by James Wabigwan, Sherrie MacDonald and Simon and supporting documents had been forwarded to the election appeal board.
The appeals will now be sent by registered mail to all electoral candidates in accordance with Thessalon’s election code. Candidates will then have a period of 14 days upon receipt of the appeals to offer a response and supporting documentation. The board will then be able to either conduct or authorize an investigation into appeal allegations if deemed appropriate.
A new election will be called if any of the appeals are upheld.