{"id":99829,"date":"2025-12-01T13:52:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=99829"},"modified":"2025-12-01T13:52:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T18:52:30","slug":"former-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/01\/former-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Chief files judicial review over Blueberry River First Nations election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. \u2014 The saga surrounding Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) had another wrinkle this week. Former Chief Judy Desjarlais filed another judicial review regarding the four councillors recently the subject of a separate review by BRFN Elders Clarence and Joe Apsassin. Desjarlais latest judicial review, filed on Wednesday, November 26th, concerns the date of an election \u2013 which councillors Wayne Yahey, Troy Wolf, Shelley Gauthier, and Sherry Dominic had previously announced as taking place in January. A legal document alleges the decision to push forth for an election date was contrary to BRFN election bylaws, and \u201cwithout jurisdiction, unreasonable, unfair, through a closed mind, in bad faith, for an improper purpose and\/or otherwise unlawful.\u201d Desjarlais claims in the filing&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F12%2F01%2Fformer-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. \u2014 The saga surrounding Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) had another wrinkle this week. Former Chief Judy Desjarlais filed another judicial review regarding the four councillors recently the subject of a separate review by BRFN Elders Clarence and Joe Apsassin. Desjarlais latest judicial review, filed on Wednesday, November 26th, concerns the date of an election \u2013 which councillors Wayne Yahey, Troy Wolf, Shelley Gauthier, and Sherry Dominic had previously announced as taking place in January. A legal document alleges the decision to push forth for an election date was contrary to BRFN election bylaws, and \u201cwithout jurisdiction, unreasonable, unfair, through a closed mind, in bad faith, for an improper purpose and\/or otherwise unlawful.\u201d Desjarlais claims in the filing... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F12%2F01%2Fformer-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election%2F\">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-99829","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":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Chief files judicial review over Blueberry River First Nations election - 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\/12\/01\/former-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Chief files judicial review over Blueberry River First Nations election - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ed Hitchins, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Energeticcity.ca FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. \u2014 The saga surrounding Blueberry River First Nations (BRFN) had another wrinkle this week. Former Chief Judy Desjarlais filed another judicial review regarding the four councillors recently the subject of a separate review by BRFN Elders Clarence and Joe Apsassin. Desjarlais latest judicial review, filed on Wednesday, November 26th, concerns the date of an election \u2013 which councillors Wayne Yahey, Troy Wolf, Shelley Gauthier, and Sherry Dominic had previously announced as taking place in January. A legal document alleges the decision to push forth for an election date was contrary to BRFN election bylaws, and \u201cwithout jurisdiction, unreasonable, unfair, through a closed mind, in bad faith, for an improper purpose and\/or otherwise unlawful.\u201d Desjarlais claims in the filing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/01\/former-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election\/\" \/>\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=\"2025-12-01T18:52:30+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\\\/12\\\/01\\\/former-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/01\\\/former-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Former Chief files judicial review over Blueberry River First Nations election\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T18:52:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/01\\\/former-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":497,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/01\\\/former-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/01\\\/former-chief-files-judicial-review-over-blueberry-river-first-nations-election\\\/\",\"name\":\"Former Chief files judicial review over Blueberry River First Nations election - 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