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Timing of Appealing Chair's decision?


Guest Ed

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Hi,

We recently held an AGM meeting whereby a petition was tabled, seconded, and opened for discussion by the Chair. The Petition called for the immediate removal of Chief and Council and for a general election to be held within 60 days. After a days' discussion the Chair suddenly ruled the petition "invalid" and tried to carry on with other business. The assembly was unaware of an appeal process and therefore did not exercise it.

The completion of the AGM was postponed to Sept 10th.

So my question is can the assembly still use the appeal process even if it was not instigated immediately after the Chair ruled the petition invalid?

Thanks.

Ed

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Hi,

We recently held an AGM meeting whereby a petition was tabled, seconded, and opened for discussion by the Chair. The Petition called for the immediate removal of Chief and Council and for a general election to be held within 60 days. After a days' discussion the Chair suddenly ruled the petition "invalid" and tried to carry on with other business. The assembly was unaware of an appeal process and therefore did not exercise it.

The completion of the AGM was postponed to Sept 10th.

So my question is can the assembly still use the appeal process even if it was not instigated immediately after the Chair ruled the petition invalid?

Thanks.

Ed

I don't understand, "...suddenly ruled the petition 'invalid'...". Can you explain in a little more detail what was the nature of his ruling?

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I don't understand, "...suddenly ruled the petition 'invalid'...". Can you explain in a little more detail what was the nature of his ruling?

Under the Constitution of our First Nation, the Chief and Council can be removed by a petition signed by a minimum of 40 eligible Citizens. Legal representation was supposed to represent the assembly but clearly represented Chief and Council in his advice to the Chair. Neither the Chair nor the legal representation have given their written reason to the assembly for ruling the petition invalid. Clearly the Chief and council were looking to preserve their jobs, and nobody informed the assembly that there was an appeal process.

The interesting point is that even though the Chair made his ruling the debate continued by the members of the assembly, and no other business was discussed. the AGM was adjourned to a later date of Set 10th. Therefore, I am wondering if I can still call for an appeal immediately upon reconvening the meeting and before any other business is discussed. In other words, i believe the intention of calling for an appeal immediately after a chairs decision is so that the assembly doesn't move onto other business. In this case a lot of time has past since the chairs decision but no other business was conducted since the chairs decision.

Ed

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Under the Constitution of our First Nation, the Chief and Council can be removed by a petition signed by a minimum of 40 eligible Citizens. Legal representation was supposed to represent the assembly but clearly represented Chief and Council in his advice to the Chair. Neither the Chair nor the legal representation have given their written reason to the assembly for ruling the petition invalid. Clearly the Chief and council were looking to preserve their jobs, and nobody informed the assembly that there was an appeal process.

The interesting point is that even though the Chair made his ruling the debate continued by the members of the assembly, and no other business was discussed. the AGM was adjourned to a later date of Set 10th. Therefore, I am wondering if I can still call for an appeal immediately upon reconvening the meeting and before any other business is discussed. In other words, i believe the intention of calling for an appeal immediately after a chairs decision is so that the assembly doesn't move onto other business. In this case a lot of time has past since the chairs decision but no other business was conducted since the chairs decision.

Ed

It is still unclear what happened, from a parliamentary standpoint. You might want to just introduce a new petition at the adjourned meeting, and if it is ruled out of order, you can proceed an appeal.

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Under the Constitution of our First Nation, the Chief and Council can be removed by a petition signed by a minimum of 40 eligible Citizens. Legal representation was supposed to represent the assembly but clearly represented Chief and Council in his advice to the Chair. Neither the Chair nor the legal representation have given their written reason to the assembly for ruling the petition invalid. Clearly the Chief and council were looking to preserve their jobs, and nobody informed the assembly that there was an appeal process.

The interesting point is that even though the Chair made his ruling the debate continued by the members of the assembly, and no other business was discussed. the AGM was adjourned to a later date of Set 10th. Therefore, I am wondering if I can still call for an appeal immediately upon reconvening the meeting and before any other business is discussed. In other words, i believe the intention of calling for an appeal immediately after a chairs decision is so that the assembly doesn't move onto other business. In this case a lot of time has past since the chairs decision but no other business was conducted since the chairs decision.

Ed

Thank you for the additional information. Since most of this has to do with the First Nation's constitution, I will not be able to give you much help. I am unable to say whether the Chair and/or his legal representation has the power or duty to determine whether the petition is valid or invalid, or on what basis such a determination should be made. Had I been a betting man, I would have laid my chips on the assembly's prerogative to judge questions pertaining to the petition's sufficiency, but I'm not privy to the governing documents. One would have thought that the Chair would have been obliged to state briefly the reason for his judgment; on the other hand, one would have also thought someone would have objected when all this happened so oddly.

I guess the lesson to be learned is to speak right up when something seems a little smelly.

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Therefore, I am wondering if I can still call for an appeal immediately upon reconvening the meeting and before any other business is discussed.

Nope. That ship sailed when the meeting adjourned, in my opinion. I concur with Mr. Wynn that from the perspective of RONR, your best bet is to start over.

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