Frederick Blake Jr. now acting as Gwich'in Grand Chief

Frederick Blake Jr. is now acting as Gwich'in Grand Chief, but not all Gwich'in communities were represented at the board meeting where he was confirmed.

The board passed the motion to empower Blake as Gwich'in Grand Chief at a special meeting in Edmonton earlier this week. 

Only representatives from Gwichya Gwich'in Council in Tsiigehtchic, Tetł'it Gwich'in Council in Fort McPherson, and Blake were present at the meeting, according to meeting minutes shared to social media.

The board passed a motion declaring Blake the chair of the Gwich'in Tribal Council and empowering him to "take any and all necessary actions to fulfill the obligations and duties as chairman of the Gwich'in Tribal Council."

The board also passed a motion to fire Jamie Koe from his role as the Gwich'in Tribal Council's CEO and revoke Michael Greenland's status as interim Grand Chief.

They also decided to stop the process of appealing N.W.T. Supreme Court Justice Annie Piche's court decision which declared Frederick Blake Jr. the duly elected Chief of the Gwich'in Tribal Council.

The Gwich'in Tribal Council announced that appeal less than two weeks ago. At that time, the board told CBC by email they would not consider Blake sworn-in as Grand Chief until March 1.

Cabin Radio has reported that the Ehdiitat Gwich'in Council in Aklavik and the Nihtat Gwich'in Council in Inuvik don't recognize the outcomes of the meeting earlier this week.

On his public Facebook page, former Gwich'in Grand Chief Ken Kyikavichik said these and other motions passed at the meeting amounted to an "improper takeover" of the Gwich'in Tribal Council and called the decision to dismiss Koe as CEO "unlawful."

Other motions passed

The board members present also passed several other consequential resolutions.

They made a decision to cancel resolutions which paused core funding the Gwichya Gwich'in Council and the Tetlit Gwich'in Council years ago, and retroactively restore any funding that was withheld.

They also passed a motion putting Frederick Blake Jr. in charge of all employment contracts for the Gwich'in Tribal Council and directed him to hire a firm to do a review of all of the Gwich'in Tribal Council's finances.

Another motion was made to have Blake and Gwich'in Tribal Council board members from Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic oversee the Gwich'in Tribal Council's business arm and settlement fund. 

Previously, both had their own board of directors which were supposed to include two representatives from the Gwich'in Tribal Council's board and four other representatives for the four Gwich'in communities in N.W.T.

Representatives also voted to end their contract with MLT Aikins, the law firm that represented the Gwich'n Tribal Council in its court case against Blake. The firm will be replaced by Edmonton-based law firm Alberta Counsel.

They also passed a motion to pay Blake his salary as Grand Chief retroactively to Aug. 19, the day of the election for Gwich'in Grand Chief.

The board said it will hold another special meeting in Tsiigehtchic on Feb. 17.