Several members of the Liard First Nation say they’ve had enough of their chief and want to see him removed.
On Dec. 17, around 110 band members gathered at the recreation hall in Watson Lake where they held a community vote of non-confidence regarding Chief Stephen Charlie’s leadership. A motion was also brought forward to suspend Charlie from his role as chief.
Those in attendance in-person and online voted in favor of both resolutions.
While the meeting wasn’t officially endorsed by Liard First Nation (LFN), that didn’t stop four of Charlie’s fellow council members from attending in-person and online. A fifth councillor was ill and unable to attend but said they lent their support.
“It’s been a rough term,” Deputy Chief Harlan Schilling told membership at the meeting. “It’s been a long time coming.”
The meeting follows a letter signed by Schilling and four other councillors in October who said they had lost confidence in Charlie’s leadership.
The letter accuses Charlie of failing to collaborate with council, unilateral decision making and workplace bullying, among other things.
Charlie disputed the accusations an in interview with APTN News following the letter’s release.
During the community meeting, Schilling accused Charlie of making decisions on council’s behalf without consultation or going through the proper channels. He also said there’s only been two council-of the-whole meetings since the current council was elected in June 2023.
“There is more than just one person that makes decisions for Liard First Nation,” Schilling said. “We have been fighting for community updates, community meetings, transparency.”
Councillor Kyla Magun agreed. She apologized to membership for the need for such a meeting in the first place.
“That’s not how I expected this term to go. That’s not what I wanted,” she said. “It’s not about sitting here bashing anybody. That’s not what I’m here for. All I ever wanted was to work collectively as a team to make decisions, to make positive engagement.”
Members were invited to ask questions about LFN’s state of affairs. Many raised concerns about what they feel is a lack of accountability and transparency within the First Nation, its finances and its failure to enact a constitution.
Schilling and Magun said they were in the same boat as membership.
“Emails were going ignored, text messages were being ignored, when simply all we want is answers,” Schilling said. “If things are happening within our nation, the council that you elected are legally liable. And these are the serious problems, again, that I have as an LFN member and as LFN Deputy Chief.”
Despite receiving a formal invite to the meeting, Charlie didn’t make an appearance.
“Why isn’t he here?” Schilling asked. “Why is he not here to hear what the problems are?”
Dene Ā́ʼ Nezen
The meeting was spearheaded by Dene Ā́ʼ Nezen, a group led by LFN women who want to see accountability in the First Nation’s leadership.
They’re also pushing for Charlie’s suspension.
“The people are telling him that this is not right, and the way that he’s leading is not right,” said Dene Ā́ʼ Nezen member Abby Stogrin. “I don’t understand how you can say that you’re working for the people when the people have clearly stated that they do not agree with your leadership.”
Last week, two of Dene Ā́ʼ Nezen members, Diana Lee Jimmy and Emeral Poppe, were fired from their jobs at LFN’s language department after sharing their concerns about Charlie publicly with the media.
Jimmy said the firing didn’t come as a surprise as the group is speaking out – something she said band members are afraid to do out of fear of retaliation.
“There really is a culture of fear here on people speaking up,” Lee told APTN News. “And I guess those who did speak up were always a lone voice in the past, and especially like right now, membership really aren’t being heard.”
The women said they want to change that.
Poppe said she was nervous leading up to the meeting but was pleasantly surprised by the turnout.
“I’m happy that we had a good amount of people come and attend,” she said.
The women are ramping up their efforts to officially oust the chief.
They’re currently collecting signatures from LFN members for a petition to officially remove Charlie. As of Wednesday, the petition had garnered 170 signatures.
The women said that’s more than the 158 votes that Charlie earned during the 2023 election.
According to the First Nation’s custom election code, a 50 per cent majority plus one is needed to officially remove the chief, which is about 527 signatures of the LFN’s roughly 1,000-plus eligible voters.
The women said if all goes to plan, the petition will trigger a by-election to elect a new chief in the spring.
Lee said the group’s efforts have received support from many of their fellow band members.
“The more we spoke out, the more other people spoke out. They’re still speaking out quietly, but they’re there,” she said.
Charlie declined an interview with APTN News, but said in a statement posted to social media earlier this week that the accusations against him are “inaccurate and unfounded.”
Charlie said the community meeting wasn’t sanctioned by LFN and that Dene Ā́ʼ Nezen doesn’t have the authority to remove him under LFN’s custom election code.
“The customary election code also does not recognize this process of removing LFN leadership,” he said.
He further noted he intends to serve the remainder of his term as chief.
But Stogrin disagrees with Charlie’s response.
“If he came to (Tuesday’s) meeting, then he would see the basis for those allegations,” she said.
