Case information

Aboriginal law — Indian bands — Elections — Judgments and orders — Stay of execution — Indian band’s council passing resolution to proclaim new elections code into force — Federal Court judge declaring new elections code to be invalid — Federal Court of Appeal judge dismissing motion for stay of execution of original judgment — Whether presumption of validity of law before courts in Canadian law applies to resolution passed by band council, and whether order denying stay of execution must therefore be set aside — Whether rule 398(1) of Federal Courts Rules conflicts with Canadian law presumption of validity of law before courts — Federal Courts Rules, SOR/98-106.

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In 2015, the applicants, the then Chief and councillors of the Conseil des Innus de Pessamit (“Council”), tried to amend the 1994 elections code of the Pessamit Innu First Nation. The new 2015 code provided, among other things, that elections would be held every four years rather than at two-year intervals. The Council passed the new code following a referendum and confirmed, by way of a resolution, its entry into force for an election that was scheduled for August 17, 2016. The respondent, Mr. Bacon St-Onge, a member of the community, contested the process by which the elections code had been amended, asserting that it was inconsistent with the amending formula provided for in the code, and challenged the election of August 17, 2016.

The Federal Court declared that the 1994 code remained in force and that the new 2015 code was invalid, and annulled the results of the election of August 17, 2016; it also ordered that a new election be held on August 17, 2018. However, those declarations were suspended to allow the Council to amend the elections code in accordance with the amending provisions of the 1994 code. The Chief and the councillors appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal. They also sought to obtain a stay of execution of the judgment from the Federal Court of Appeal. On April 23, 2018, a judge of the Court of Appeal sitting alone declined to grant the stay.

The applicants then filed, in the Supreme Court of Canada, an application for leave to appeal that decision of the Federal Court of Appeal judge declining to grant a stay as well as another motion for a stay of the original judgment (motion dismissed on August 23, 2018 in an order by Brown J.).

In a parallel process, the Federal Court found the Chief and the councillors in contempt of court for having failed to organize an election in August 2018 and for having failed to comply with the original judgment of the Federal Court. The Federal Court ordered that a new election be held on September 17, 2018.