Favel’s Future on MNS Senate Looking Bleak
Thursday, November 25, 2004 at 14:18
The former head of the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan Senate says she will recommend that a senator from Ile-a-la-Crosse be removed from office.
But Senator Jim Favel says he’s not worried about losing his seat on the Senate.
Favel created a stir yesterday when he publicly called for a new Metis election and said he trusted the findings of the Lampard report.
Senator Nora Ritchie-Cummings says senators are not allowed to make public statements about political matters, and Favel might be kicked off the Senate as a result.
She also says the MNS Senate Act gives the remaining senators the power to remove a senator if it’s determined he has abused his position — even the region he represents opposes the move.
Favel says it’s up to his local region to make that call. Either way, he says he needed to say the things he did, and is not backing down from his comments.
Favel isn’t sure if any other MNS senators feel the same way he does about the Metis election.
Favel is the first MNS official to publicly break ranks over the issue.
Meantime, a Metis notary public in La Ronge is critical of the rules concerning what senators can or can’t say.
Mike Durocher wonders how Metis senators can be punished for making political statements when some senators are already heavily involved in the political process by sitting on the Metis Elections Commission.