John Lagimodiere, Publisher of Eagle Feather News. Photo courtesy of eaglefeathernews.com
The publisher of Eagle Feather News has seen it all. Years of political infighting, overturned election results, the loss of federal funding and an ongoing power struggle between two factions in the Saskatchewan Metis Nation.
John Lagimodiere says the feeling he gets is that Metis have had enough, and they want new leadership and a new direction for the provincial organization. He expects that will be the result after the May 27th election.
“People want drastic change,” he said. “So, from that, I think there is going to be a really high voter turnout and we are going to see some news faces, just from what I feel, but who knows, stranger things have happened.”
There are nine people in the running for president. Former president, Robert Doucette, is not among them. He announced last year he was done. Vice President Gerald Morin is also not after the top job, but is running again as vice president.
The Saskatchewan Metis Nation lost its federal funding in 2014 after it failed to hold required legislative assemblies. The organization is basically broke. Its office is closed and it has had to sell off most of its assets.