Election Law

When a First Nation wants to get out from the Indian Act election system and federal control over their election process, they can develop their own Election Law based on their unique needs (subject to certain limitations).  If the new Lac Seul Election Law is passed, LSFN will not need to ask Canada to accept, or even review changes to its leadership selection process. This is an important step toward independence and self-determination.

No. The LSFN Election law will only remove LSFN from the specific election-related regulations of the Indian Act.

No. The proposed LSFN Election Law does not change the fiduciary (financial) nature of Canada’s relationship with LSFN. The Law is intended to give LSFN more control over its leadership selection process but does not relieve Canada of its financial obligations or negatively impact Treaty rights.

Lac Seul has been working on a custom Election Law in various forms for more than 20 years.  The current version started in February 2023 with the initiation of the Good Governance Project – Obishikokaang Ogiimaankaawiin.  There have been many meetings and workshops with Chief and Council, two separate surveys (online and in-person) with nearly 200 responses, and community information sessions in Nov 2023 and May 2025 (including an Elders Gathering).  The project team had an information booth at Treaty Days 2023, 2024, and will attend in 2025. Also, information was included in Christmas hampers and presented at the 2024 and 2025 Annual General Meeting. 

A Council-appointed, 8-member community Working Group (WG) was formed in June 2024 to guide the drafting of the Election Law, and to ensure that the community voice was central to the process.  This Working Group has met 14 times to review every part of the part of the Election Law in detail. 

Currently, all Members (those living on reserve and off) vote for Chief, but only on-reserve Members vote for Councillors. Since Councillors represent ALL members (both on and off reserve), it is important that ALL members have a say in ALL elected positions.  Recent legal challenges in other First Nations have found that off-reserve Members must have greater input in voting for Councillors, not just the Chief. It is also important to ensure that once elected, Chief and Council can have the time to fulfill their mandate by extending the term from 2 years to 4 years.

The new Law proposes that there are 10 Council positions, plus Chief.  Through the survey and information sessions, the Community said they want to see Councillors representing LSFN as a whole (“One Lac Seul”).  This is why the new Law proposes that each Community (eg: Frenchman’s Head, Kejick Bay, Whitefish Bay) have the same number of Councillors (2 each), and that 2 additional Councillors are “At Large/General” representing LSFN as a whole.  

Since 75% of LSFN members are off-reserve, they must also have meaningful representation on Council (2 Council positions).  There have been several court challenges that have determined that off-reserve members have a legal right to participate on Council, under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The role of the two proposed “Off-Reserve” Councillors will be developed by Council to best meet the needs of both on and off reserve members.  Proposed responsibilities are:

• Engaging with off-reserve membership.
• Staffing an off-reserve office to support urban members, or on-reserve members receiving services in urban centres.
• Attending monthly Council meetings in person, and other meetings virtually.
• Representing LSFN in business development opportunities in urban centres.
• Supporting portfolios with greater off-reserve travel requirements, such as Economic Development or Lands and Resources.

They will represent LSFN as a whole and are the candidates with the NEXT highest number of votes (after 2 Councillors from each district are confirmed from the Election Day vote tally), regardless of which community they live in.  They will support all LSFN members and will be assigned portfolios at the start of each term just like all other Councillors.

In addition to the engagement that has taken place over the last 3 years, there will be many more opportunities to learn about the proposed Election Law and the upcoming vote.  

During Summer 2025, there will be representatives from the Good Governance Working Group going door to door on reserve to connect with members, and an information package will be sent by mail.  You can also visit the booth at Treaty Days 2025. Additional Information Sessions will take place in each on-reserve community in late October 2025, at the off-reserve Christmas Feasts and at the 2026 AGM.  

Leslie King, Governance Coordinator, is also available in person at the Frenchman’s Head Band Office, by phone 807-582-3503 x 1035 or email leslieking@lacseulfn.org

LSFN members will have the opportunity to vote to adopt the new Election Law on Tuesday, February 3^rd, 2026.  Information packages will be sent out in December and will include (1) a copy of the proposed Election Law (2) Instructions to Register for Online Voting (3) Instructions for In-Person Voting and (4) Instructions for Mail-In Ballots.

The Community has asked to reform the elections process for several years (as far back as 2005), and the current Chief and Council have made it their mandate during the last 2 terms. In order to ensure LSFN does not have another Indian Act election, the new Law must be accepted by the Community with enough time to prepare. This is why the proposed date for the Community Approval Vote on the Custom Election Law is scheduled for Feb 3, 2026, allowing at least 6 months to prepare for the next General Election in September 2026.

Yes, once it is passed and LSFN has been removed from the Election Regulations under the Indian Act, the Custom Election Law can be changed by membership. This process would start with Chief and Council drafting a proposed amendment in consultation with members. The amendment would then proceed to a new Community Approval Vote to adopt the proposed changes. 

While LSFN has more off-reserve members as a proportion of the total membership, the decisions that Council make have a much larger effect on the on-reserve members.  Also, funding for most programs are based on the on-reserve population only.  It is only fair that on-reserve members have a majority of the seats on Council. 

There will be an additional cost to LSFN for the annual honorarium pay for 2 additional Councillors.  It is likely that additional travel costs will be offset by off-reserve Councillors attending meetings in urban centres instead of on-reserve Councillors travelling to these meetings in person.