A court has waded into a leadership dispute on the Fond du Lac First Nation.
Two men are claiming to be chief — Earl Lidguerre and Napoleon Mercredi.
Lidguerre was the undisputed leader until last month when the band’s executive advisory council served him with impeachment papers.
Mercredi says he was sworn in as the new chief yesterday after being the sole candidate to run in a subsequent byelection.
Now, a Queen’s Bench justice has issued an injunction saying Lidguerre remains the chief until the larger issue can be sorted out in a court proceeding on October 28th.
Mercredi — who admits taking a hammer to a locked door at the band office yesterday — says he has no problem with the court order.
“The staff that are loyal to Earl Lidguerre locked all the band offices and shut down all the facilities. So I knew I was the chief, so I took the hammer and got in the band office. And then we got a court injunction. And then the RCMP were there, that I did a B and E and all that stuff, but I’ve got papers that I’m the chief so it really doesn’t matter. If I have to go to court, I’ll go to court.”
Mercredi says a special Aboriginal policing unit of the RCMP will arrive in the community tomorrow to conduct a mediation session involving himself and Lidguerre.