{"id":102102,"date":"2026-02-18T14:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=102102"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:45:32","slug":"court-finds-former-blueberry-river-first-nations-chiefs-ouster-procedurally-fair-and-reasonable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/court-finds-former-blueberry-river-first-nations-chiefs-ouster-procedurally-fair-and-reasonable\/","title":{"rendered":"Court finds former Blueberry River First Nations chief\u2019s ouster \u2018procedurally fair and reasonable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca BUICK, B.C. \u2014 A federal judge has rejected the former Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) chief request for a judicial review, saying her ouster was \u201cprocedurally fair and reasonable.\u201d In the 135-page ruling, Madam Justice Cecily Y. Strickland said Judy Desjarlais\u2019 reasons to challenge her removal lacked merit, saying Desjarlais \u201cbears the onus of establishing the removal decision was unreasonable.\u201d One argument \u00a0Desjarlais had made was that the ouster was politically motivated, but Strickland said Desjarlais \u201cdid not establish the concerns raised by the respondent councillors were aimed at personal or political advantage.\u201d Desjarlais was removed from office by four BRFN Councillors \u2013 Troy Wolf, Wayne Yahey, Sherry Dominic and Shelley Gauthier \u2013 in September 2024, after an independent investigation said Desjarlais… <\/p>\n

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By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca BUICK, B.C. \u2014 A federal judge has rejected the former Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) chief request for a judicial review, saying her ouster was \u201cprocedurally fair and reasonable.\u201d In the 135-page ruling, Madam Justice Cecily Y. Strickland said Judy Desjarlais\u2019 reasons to challenge her removal lacked merit, saying Desjarlais \u201cbears the onus of establishing the removal decision was unreasonable.\u201d One argument \u00a0Desjarlais had made was that the ouster was politically motivated, but Strickland said Desjarlais \u201cdid not establish the concerns raised by the respondent councillors were aimed at personal or political advantage.\u201d Desjarlais was removed from office by four BRFN Councillors \u2013 Troy Wolf, Wayne Yahey, Sherry Dominic and Shelley Gauthier \u2013 in September 2024, after an independent investigation said Desjarlais... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nCourt finds former Blueberry River First Nations chief\u2019s ouster \u2018procedurally fair and reasonable\u2019 - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/court-finds-former-blueberry-river-first-nations-chiefs-ouster-procedurally-fair-and-reasonable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court finds former Blueberry River First Nations chief\u2019s ouster \u2018procedurally fair and reasonable\u2019 - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca BUICK, B.C. \u2014 A federal judge has rejected the former Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) chief request for a judicial review, saying her ouster was \u201cprocedurally fair and reasonable.\u201d In the 135-page ruling, Madam Justice Cecily Y. Strickland said Judy Desjarlais\u2019 reasons to challenge her removal lacked merit, saying Desjarlais \u201cbears the onus of establishing the removal decision was unreasonable.\u201d One argument \u00a0Desjarlais had made was that the ouster was politically motivated, but Strickland said Desjarlais \u201cdid not establish the concerns raised by the respondent councillors were aimed at personal or political advantage.\u201d Desjarlais was removed from office by four BRFN Councillors \u2013 Troy Wolf, Wayne Yahey, Sherry Dominic and Shelley Gauthier \u2013 in September 2024, after an independent investigation said Desjarlais\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/court-finds-former-blueberry-river-first-nations-chiefs-ouster-procedurally-fair-and-reasonable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-18T19:45:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/court-finds-former-blueberry-river-first-nations-chiefs-ouster-procedurally-fair-and-reasonable\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/court-finds-former-blueberry-river-first-nations-chiefs-ouster-procedurally-fair-and-reasonable\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Court finds former Blueberry River First Nations chief\u2019s ouster \u2018procedurally fair and reasonable\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-18T19:45:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/court-finds-former-blueberry-river-first-nations-chiefs-ouster-procedurally-fair-and-reasonable\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":361,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/court-finds-former-blueberry-river-first-nations-chiefs-ouster-procedurally-fair-and-reasonable\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/18\\\/court-finds-former-blueberry-river-first-nations-chiefs-ouster-procedurally-fair-and-reasonable\\\/\",\"name\":\"Court finds former Blueberry River First Nations chief\u2019s ouster \u2018procedurally fair and reasonable\u2019 - 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