Three years after the election of Innu mayor Henri Wapistan, the small community of Natashquan is once again experiencing an unusual political situation. Without leaving his position as mayor, Mr. Wapistan has decided to run for the head of the neighbouring band council in Nutashkuan.
The Innu election will take place on July 6, and Mr. Wapistan has not indicated whether he intends to remain mayor of Natashquan if he wins.
The other members of the city council are walking on eggshells. “It’s a delicate situation,” explains city councilor and acting mayor, Stéphanie Landry.
“Whether he is elected or not, we must maintain a relationship with him that is favorable. We must ensure that the year and a half he has left functions well [comme maire]. And if he becomes the leader of the neighboring community, we have many common projects. It is a special situation. We can suggest things, but gently.
The Innu community of Nutashkuan lives right next to the municipality of Natashquan, in the area of the former Pointe-Parent neighbourhood. As you might expect, the name of the community is inspired by that of the First Nation, which means “place where bears are hunted” in the Innu language.
However, while Nutashkuan is booming in population, reaching more than a thousand inhabitants, Gilles Vigneault’s native village now only has about 250 residents. It was by encouraging the Innu, who are more numerous to vote in non-native territory, that Mr. Wapistan managed to be elected mayor in 2021.
To reduce “favoritism”
The duty sought explanations from Mr. Wapistan himself regarding his candidacy for the band council, but he did not call us back.
However, he summed up his vision of things to the local newspaper. The Porter recently. In the interview, he said he wanted to apply practices inspired by those of Natashquan in Innu territory. “I’m a guy who wants advancement. I’ve been at the Natashquan town hall for three years now. I know how it works on the non-native side, there are laws and transparency, and elected officials are trained. On the community side, it’s very different, everything is mixed up. There’s too much favouritism,” he said.
The candidate also says he wants “a fish factory with the non-natives of Natashquan and Aguanish together” to “create jobs, then reconciliation between the non-natives and the Innu.”
In 2021, Mr. Wapistan’s election as mayor of Natashquan caused waves since he does not reside within the municipal limits, but in Nutashkuan.
This was the first time in Quebec that a municipality found itself in this situation, which is caused by a legislative incongruity. Indeed, granting the right to vote to the Innu in the municipality falls under the Act respecting elections and referendums in municipalities and the fact that reserves are considered part of municipal territories.
A dozen Indigenous communities are in this situation in Quebec, including that of Mashteuiatsh, which lives next to Roberval, in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean. The chief of Mashteuiatsh, Gilbert Dominique, has often publicly denounced the confusion created in this regard by Quebec law. He had also urged the members of his community not to exercise their right to vote in the municipal elections in Roberval.
Possible in Quebec, prohibited in Innu territory
In Quebec law, nothing prevents Henri Wapistan from running for the leadership of the band council while remaining mayor.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs reports that nothing in the legislation provides for “the ineligibility or disqualification of a member of a municipal council who would occupy the functions of chief of a band of an indigenous reserve.”
However, “the municipal elected official is required to act in the interest of the municipality within the framework of his functions, in compliance with his code of ethics and professional conduct,” it adds.
On Nutashkuan’s side, it’s different. “No one can stop him from running,” says the deputy president responsible for elections, Liliane Malec. On the other hand, “if he wins as leader, he has to make a decision and choose one of the two positions,” she says.
The Quebec government also has no intention of changing the law in this area. However, a municipality and an indigenous community can request to be exempted by making a “joint” request to the regional branch of the ministry, says Élodie Masson, press attaché for Andrée Laforest, Minister of Municipal Affairs.
Mr. Wapistan was a councillor in Nutashkuan about ten years ago, but he failed to be re-elected as a member of the band council more recently. This time, he is competing against five other candidates in the election, including the incumbent chief, Réal Tettaut. The other candidates are Marie-Paule Malec, Marc-André Kaltush, Roberto Wapistan and Pierre Kaltush. Elections in the community are held every two years.