{"id":12343,"date":"2025-09-03T12:30:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/?p=12343"},"modified":"2025-09-03T12:52:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:52:52","slug":"red-pheasant-cree-nation-vote-buying-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gangsterismout.com\/?p=12343","title":{"rendered":"Red Pheasant Cree Nation – vote buying tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nIn March 2020, the Red Pheasant First Nation held an election for its chief and councillors. Clinton Wuttunee, incumbent chief, ran for re-election. Gary Nicotine ran for councillor. They both won by a significant margin. Wuttunee topped two challengers; Todd Baptiste and Lester Nicotine, taking 648 of the 1,078 total votes, for 60% of the overall vote. Wuttunee\u2019s and Nicotine\u2019s conduct corrupted the integrity of their elections. \u201cA first Nation Chief should be expected to be one of the bulwarks of First Nation democracy. Here Chief Wuttunee was not.\u201d The court identified aggravating factors regarding their conduct. It held that they committed \u201cparticularly grave electoral fraud\u201d
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\nVotes were purchased from a variety of Red Pheasant people on and off-reserve. Members were paid to apply for a mail-in ballot, and then again when their blank ballots arrived. The ballot would be fraudulently filled in and signed before being submitted to the electoral officer. In some cases payments were made under the guise of “Band Member Assistance”.
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\nThe elections of Chief Clinton Wuttunee and Coun. Gary Nicotine were annulled. The judge found Couns. Lux Benson, Jason Chakita, Mandy Cuthand, Henry Gardipy, Samuel Wuttunee and Shawn Wuttunee engaged in “serious electoral fraud, though on a lesser scale.” The chief and council appealed. In Wuttunee v. Whitford, 2023 FCA 18<\/a>, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed Wuttunee\u2019s and Nicotine\u2019s appeal. Under s. 35(1) of the FNEA, the Federal Court had the discretion to annul elections if it believed that it was appropriate to do so.<\/p>\n

The RCMP laid charges against former chief Charles Meechance, 50, of Red Pheasant Cree Nation for buying votes in 2008. He faced seven counts under Section 125 of the Criminal Code, the section that deals with vote buying.
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