2 presidents dismissed at tense Gwich'in Tribal Council assembly in Inuvik

At the general assembly of the Gwich'in Tribal Council meeting Thursday, delegates voted to dismiss Tetlit Gwich'in president Abe Wilson and Gwichya Gwich'in president Mavis Clark due to code-of-conduct violations.

Clark was dismissed with a vote of 22 for and six against. Wilson was dismissed with a vote of 20 for, six against, and one person who abstained. Details on the code of conduct violations were discussed in an in-camera meeting yesterday, but were not discussed publicly before voting began.

The motions to dismiss were two of the last motions to be passed on a day where tensions between delegates from the Gwich'in Tribal Council and delegates from those communities were very high. 

In the morning, a vote over an amendment to Gwich'in Tribal Council bylaws devolved into arguments between GTC board members and Tetlit Gwich'in delegates.

Gwich'in Tribal Council CEO Angela Tripathy said that the amendments were only to add clarity, and didn't change procedures, but Tetlit Gwich'in representatives Ruby McDonald and Richard Nerysoo raised concerns that GTC leadership were not being clear about the substance of the bylaw changes. 

When Tetlit Gwichin youth delegate Rayna Vittrekwa stated that she didn't have a delegate package with information on the proposed bylaws, Gwich'in Tribal Council Chair Ken Kyikavichik called it an example of Gwich'in councils not taking on their share of responsibilities. 

"This printing of a package is larger than just the printing of a package. It's about shuffling off responsibility to the tribal council administratively but yet coming to this table and demanding a level of autonomy," he said. 

"Part of the issue with Tetlit is an administrative issue and a personnel issue." 

In response to the criticism from Kyikavichik, and other criticism that his questions and comments on the bylaw were intended to confuse, Nerysoo offered the following response. 

"We're not here to try to make it more difficult, we're trying to find ways to solve problems … if our advice isn't listened, if our advice is not going to be heard, then we shouldn't be here as a community."

The delegates from Tetlin Gwich'in then proceeded to temporarily leave the general assembly and convened a caucus of their representatives. The motions to change the bylaws were passed without them.

'Is this leadership?'

When participants who were watching the meeting in Inuvik and online got a chance to speak after lunch, many criticized the behaviour of leadership. Several people said they were uncomfortable being present at the assembly and called what was going on from Gwich'in Tribal Council an example of bullying.

Willie Blake of Tetlit Gwich'in was the first to speak.

"Man, is this what the Gwich'in have for leadership? We're yelling at one another. I'm really uncomfortable…. Is this leadership? Representation?" he said. 

Rayna Vittlekwa also spoke up, saying that the animosity from delegates in other communities made her feel like Tetit Gwich'in was being ganged up on, and made her wish that she had not signed up as a youth delegate. 

Grand Chief Kyikavichik responded, saying that one of his goals was to stop bullying. He also said that he "took responsibility for [his] shortcomings" and said that he thought the participant forum was important.

But he was critical of how participants were using the time. 

"This participants' forum is turning into a complaints session … It's not an opportunity to talk about everything that's wrong," he said. 

Later, he addressed complaints from other participants about land use and educational funding directly. 

The forensic audit

After the participant forum, Kyikavichik began his presentation on the results of a forensic audit by Deloitte that found financial mismanagement among Gwich'in councils in communities.

Kyikavichik said that information found in the audit had been referred to RCMP for possible investigation, but said that many issues found in the audit could be addressed by better policies and procedures for finances in designated Gwich'in organizations and community governments. 

According to Kyikavichik, the first step for better financial management will be to change financial reporting processes for communities so that each community follows roughly the same protocol. 

The assembly ended with an update on efforts by the Gwich'in Tribal Council to implement self-government.