Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
Onion Lake Cree Nation Chief Wallace Fox is facing multiple charges stemming from a domestic incident which occurred in the Cree community on May 18, the Saskatchewan RCMP said in a statement Monday.
Fox is facing two counts of assault, one count of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose related to the use of a knife and one count of uttering threats to damage property, the RCMP statement said.
The RCMP statement said Fox was arrested without incident on Monday and released on condition he appear before provincial court in Onion Lake, Sask., on Dec. 16.
Fox could not be immediately reached for comment.
Fox was arrested mere days after Onion Lake won a Federal Court case against Ottawa over the First Nations Transparency Act which required bands to post financial statements online, including the pay of chief and councillors.
Fox rose to national prominence during the height of the Idle No More movement. He was one of the chiefs who marched into Centre Block on Parliament Hill in the fall of 2012 demanding an audience with the prime minister.
Fox was also one of the leaders who openly challenged former Assembly of First Nations national chief Shawn Atleo not to meet with former prime minister Stephen Harper on Jan. 11, 2013.
Onion Lake was also one of the sponsors of a national conference in Edmonton on missing and murdered Indigenous women held in September.
Fox has been a long-time chief of Onion Lake since the 1980s. He was first elected to council at age 21 in 1983. Three years later, he was elected chief of oil-rich community.
Onion Lake has about 5,000 band members and sits about 50 kilometres north of Lloydminster, Alta., on the Saskatchewan-Alberta border.
@JorgeBarrera
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