{"id":96833,"date":"2025-09-05T09:41:33","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=96833"},"modified":"2025-09-05T09:41:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:41:33","slug":"bza-first-nation-chief-in-legal-dispute-with-councillors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/05\/bza-first-nation-chief-in-legal-dispute-with-councillors\/","title":{"rendered":"BZA First Nation chief in legal dispute with councillors"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source ROCKY BAY \u2014 The chief of a Lake Nipigon-area First Nation has taken legal action against the band councillors who suspended her without pay this summer. An affidavit filed in Federal Court alleges that Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek (BZA) councillors acted unlawfully in July when they suspended Gladys Thompson from the First Nation\u2019s top elected position. In response, a BZA councillor has filed an affidavit asserting that the chief\u2019s suspension was entirely lawful and reflected the will of BZA members. Gladys Thompson\u2019s motion to be reinstated was heard by video conference in Federal Court on Wednesday. Represented by a Winnipeg law firm, she is seeking to be reinstated as \u201clawfully elected chief\u201d of BZA, formerly known as Rocky Bay First Nation…. <\/p>\n

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By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source ROCKY BAY \u2014 The chief of a Lake Nipigon-area First Nation has taken legal action against the band councillors who suspended her without pay this summer. An affidavit filed in Federal Court alleges that Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek (BZA) councillors acted unlawfully in July when they suspended Gladys Thompson from the First Nation\u2019s top elected position. In response, a BZA councillor has filed an affidavit asserting that the chief\u2019s suspension was entirely lawful and reflected the will of BZA members. Gladys Thompson\u2019s motion to be reinstated was heard by video conference in Federal Court on Wednesday. Represented by a Winnipeg law firm, she is seeking to be reinstated as \u201clawfully elected chief\u201d of BZA, formerly known as Rocky Bay First Nation.... <\/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":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96833","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":"\nBZA First Nation chief in legal dispute with councillors - 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\/2025\/09\/05\/bza-first-nation-chief-in-legal-dispute-with-councillors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BZA First Nation chief in legal dispute with councillors - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source ROCKY BAY \u2014 The chief of a Lake Nipigon-area First Nation has taken legal action against the band councillors who suspended her without pay this summer. An affidavit filed in Federal Court alleges that Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek (BZA) councillors acted unlawfully in July when they suspended Gladys Thompson from the First Nation\u2019s top elected position. In response, a BZA councillor has filed an affidavit asserting that the chief\u2019s suspension was entirely lawful and reflected the will of BZA members. Gladys Thompson\u2019s motion to be reinstated was heard by video conference in Federal Court on Wednesday. Represented by a Winnipeg law firm, she is seeking to be reinstated as \u201clawfully elected chief\u201d of BZA, formerly known as Rocky Bay First Nation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/05\/bza-first-nation-chief-in-legal-dispute-with-councillors\/\" \/>\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=\"2025-09-05T13:41:33+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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/05\\\/bza-first-nation-chief-in-legal-dispute-with-councillors\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/05\\\/bza-first-nation-chief-in-legal-dispute-with-councillors\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"BZA First Nation chief in legal dispute with councillors\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-05T13:41:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/05\\\/bza-first-nation-chief-in-legal-dispute-with-councillors\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":574,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/05\\\/bza-first-nation-chief-in-legal-dispute-with-councillors\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/05\\\/bza-first-nation-chief-in-legal-dispute-with-councillors\\\/\",\"name\":\"BZA First Nation chief in legal dispute with councillors - 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