N.W.T. Supreme Court upholds Gwich'in Tribal Council election result

The Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories has ruled that Frederick Blake Jr. is the grand chief of the Gwich'in Tribal Council.

In a judgment Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Annie Piché declared Blake duly elected and ordered the Gwich'in Tribal Council's board to abstain from holding a new election. In doing so, she set aside the board's own decision to call a new election.

The board overturned Blake's election in August as grand chief following a complaint from the only other candidate, incumbent Ken Kyikavichik, who argued Blake had broken the Gwich'in Tribal Council's election bylaw and policy. An investigation by the election committee found those complaints unfounded, but the board decided they had merit.

Blake ultimately asked the Supreme Court to intervene, and in September the Gwich'in Tribal Council agreed to pause a new election until a judicial review could be completed.

Piché ultimately concluded Blake did breach election rules by failing to file personal campaign expense receipts when he was supposed to, and that two members of Blake's campaign team posted "libelous comments" about Kyikavichik on social media.

"However, these violations were not sufficient to call the results of the entire election into question," she wrote.

Piché declined to issue an order restraining Kyikavichik from asking board members to deny the validity of Blake's election — which Blake had requested of the court — noting that doing so would infringe on Kyikavichik's freedom of expression.

She also declined Blake's request for a permanent order stopping Kyikavichik from acting as grand chief or as a director of the Gwich'in Tribal Council, noting he could run again in the future.

In an interview Wednesday after the written decision was issued, Kyikavichik said he was disappointed by the decision but was glad for the clarity it brought to some key issues.

"It was a very technical decision. It highlights some of the issues that Indigenous governments in the Northwest Territories that have yet to achieve self-government status have," he said.

Kyikavichik said he would be reviewing the decision with his lawyer before deciding whether to appeal.

"At the heart of it is ... it's critical that we ensure the integrity of [the election] process," he said.

Kyikavichik said it's too early to say whether he will run for grand chief again.

Blake declined to comment.