Chad General, a Six Nations community member, brought concerns forward at Tuesday's council meeting about the ongoing band council election's and its nomination process and will be launching an appeal.
He argued that the community was not properly informed of the Sept. 23 nomination deadline date and that the former Chief Electoral Polling Officer (CEPO) did not fulfill their duties in properly notifying the community.
General says that he conducted his own independent review of the situation and says he hopes to appeal the nomination and have it completed again correctly. He says that he contacted former Six Nations CEPO Lori Harris who resigned from the position on Sept. 26 after receiving complaints from the community surrounding how the community was notified of the nomination deadline date.
He says he was given a list of 10 businesses where the nomination deadline information was displayed for the community but says a number of those businesses had no information on the deadline, and those who did have the information on display were not easily accessible for community members to view. General says that he will be submitting an appeal to the newly appointed CEPO Dorothy Patterson in the coming days.
"I fully think that with that review that the [former] CEPO did not carry out her duties to inform the community on the nomination process," he said.
"I feel that the nomination of 2023 should be declared invalid," he added.
Six Nations Chief Mark Hill was asked about the next steps needed for the appeal process but says that because many of the current councilors are seeking re-election, it could be determined a conflict on interest for further comments from those councilors. He says Six Nations Elected Council only had the right to delegate their CEO to appoint.
"We as the council, we can't comment on next steps. That's where we're caught in the middle of this," he said.
"Since the resignation of Lori Harris, this council had the duty and the responsibility to appoint a new CEPO. We couldn't do that until we appointed our new CEO who ultimately that [decision] lies within the office of the CEO as oppose to the elected council."
Six Nations Elected Council accepted Chad General’s presentation as information and he says he will be looking to appeal the nomination process.
SNEC meanwhile moved and carried a Band Council Resolution to be forwarded to Indigenous Services Canada for their information that SNEC appoints Dorothy Patterson as the CEPO for the upcoming general election effective from Oct 5.
In a statement to CJKS, current CEPO Dorothy Patterson says she is in contact with General and that per that Six Nations Election Code, any appeals must be made within five business days after the election to the electoral polling officer and then they will deliver their decision to the appellant within five business days of receiving the appeal.
The Six Nations General Election will take place on Nov. 4, with advanced polls taking placing on Oct. 21 & 28.
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