Manitoba chief who helped oust national chief faces early election challenge herself

The high-profile chief of Manitoba's Long Plain First Nation is fighting against an effort to hold an early election in the Anishinaabe-Dakota community southwest of Portage la Prairie.

Long Plain Chief Kyra Wilson, who advanced the motion to oust RoseAnne Archibald from her role as national chief of the Assembly of First Nations earlier this year, faces a leadership challenge herself in a Long Plain byelection slated for Dec. 7.

Wilson, who also played a central role in the push to search a landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of two Long Plain women believed to be the victims of a serial killer, claims the byelection contravenes her First Nation's electoral rules and has asked a court to set it aside.

The conflict is causing confusion among Long Plain's 4,776 members, approximately 1,200 of whom live on reserve.

"It is having a devastating effect on the community. It's completely dividing it. We have families turning against each other," said Noel Myran, who chairs Long Plain's ethics committee. "It's just a very sad situation."

Wilson was elected chief of Long Plain on April 15, 2022, when she defeated David Meeches by a 12-vote margin, 318 to 306.

Meeches appealed the result on the basis a snowstorm made it impossible for some band members to vote. That appeal was dismissed on April 21, 2022, by Long Plain's election appeals committee.

Meeches then asked the Federal Court to review the appeal committee's decision. On Sept. 25, 2023, the court ordered Long Plain to appoint band members to a new appeals committee. It, in turn, recommended a new election.

In a notice, the Long Plain First Nation Byelection Committee scheduled that byelection for Dec. 7, with advance polls slated for Winnipeg on Nov. 30, Brandon on Dec. 2 and Portage la Prairie on Dec. 5.

Wilson said she has asked the Federal Court of Appeal to effectively set this election aside on the basis the Federal Court judge overstepped his bounds and misinterpreted Long Plain's electoral rules.

Wilson also claimed Long Plain's elections officials do not have the authority to call an election and failed to set deadlines for candidacy declarations, among other deficiencies.

"We have no information about what is going to happen to our off-reserve membership, [with] mail-out ballots or online voting," Wilson said in an interview.

"We've had a long history of appeals and judicial reviews and it's constant. It's almost like every election, there's some sort of appeal or some sort of judicial review and it's cost Long Plain a lot of money to go through these processes."

Meeches said it is Wilson who is causing confusion. The current chief, he said, has agreed to place her name on the ballot for the byelection she opposes.

"From what I understand she's let it known to the electoral officer she wants her name to stand on the ballot," he said in an interview.

Wilson said she is not concerned about what happens next.

"When I was elected, I didn't sign up for the negativity that I've had to deal with, with a small group of people in my community," she said.

"In all First Nations communities, you always have a group of people that always try to make your life difficult and they try to make your life harder. They slander you. They do things to to try to hurt you. I didn't sign up for that, so I'm not worried."