Renewed Calls for Lonechild’s Resignation
Wednesday, March 02, 2011 at 14:41
There are more calls for the chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations to step down.
This time the call is coming from some former federation grand-chiefs.
Alphonse Bird, Lawrence Joseph, Blaine Favel, Sol Sanderson and Roland Crowe all say Guy Lonechild has to go.
Chief Perry Bellegarde did not sign the letter.
In a joint statement issued last night, the five chiefs say the current turmoil in the federation is unprecedented and must cease.
The chiefs say unless Lonechild has the unity of chiefs on every issue no one will respect his words or actions.
Bird says the issue is the integrity of the office and nothing else.
He says Lonechild does have pockets of support but says the majority of chiefs want him to do the “honourable” thing and step down.
Lonechild is facing a charge of impaired driving and evading police from an incident one month before he was elected.
He also pushed for major changes to the First Nations University of Canada board structure.
The chiefs calling for his departure say it’s not about that though, saying it’s about the best interests of the people and unity within the federation.
Lonechild says he is aware of the letter and plans to respond to it publicly.