Three candidates may be ineligible

With voting underway, Derek Denis, Francis Phillips, and Todd Simon are on the ballot conditionally, The Eastern Door has learned, because of evidence of possible criminal records.

The three candidates for chief in the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) election must provide fingerprinted criminal record reports demonstrating their eligibility before polls close or votes for them will not be counted, according to chief electoral officer Graeme Drew, but none has yet done so at the time of writing.

Phillips acknowledged his ineligibility to The Eastern Door. When asked if he would be submitting the required report, Simon said, “I was never mentioned anything about this when I did my ballot, so it’s kind of too late for that.”

Denis said he was led to believe last weekend that his restricted firearm permit was sufficient to indicate he did not have a criminal record.

However, Drew confirmed Denis has, at the time of writing, still not met the criteria to demonstrate his eligibility. Denis has provided an online criminal record check, Drew said, but it was inconclusive, and a fingerprinted report is still required.

The three candidates at issue - and their nominators - all signed declarations attesting to their eligibility, including that “the nominee has never been convicted of a criminal offence for which he/she has not received a pardon or a record suspension in respect of the offence, other than any criminal offence involving the exercise of Aboriginal rights.”

The evidence indicating possible criminal convictions arose from contestations, but Drew wanted to give them a chance, he said, characterizing this as the fairest way forward in a complex situation.

“Innocent until proven guilty is the approach I take with nominations,” said Drew.

This is because of the small window of time allowed by the contestation period and the need to print ballots in a timely manner and because standard background checks can be unreliable, producing inconclusive results when multiple people have the same name and date of birth, he said. This is why fingerprinted checks were requested.

“I was giving these three the benefit of the doubt to include them on the ballot because I didn’t want to exclude them,” he said. “That would be guilty until proven innocent. In good faith, they were all given the opportunity, because they declared in front of me, they swore an oath, saying they are compliant, and then I get evidence to the contrary. I have to make a determination.”

Reached by The Eastern Door to provide his final election pitch, Phillips said he’d been told he’s ineligible for having a criminal record and expressed frustration about the situation.

“I said if you know I’m not eligible to run, just take my name off the ballot right away. You shouldn’t keep my name in there and waste people’s votes on me knowing I can’t win, which is wrong, right?” he said, adding he ran because people wanted him to.

Phillips said his criminal conviction at issue goes back to 2001; documentation on his legal history has not been viewed by The Eastern Door.

“He chose to keep my name on the ballot knowing there was no way I was going to be elected, and everybody that voted for me, they’re just not going to count the votes, which I find is absurd,” said Phillips.

The nomination form on which a candidate declares they are eligible, with the criteria outlined, was signed by all of the election’s nominees and their nominators, according to Drew.

Advance voting took place on July 26. Election day is this Saturday, August 2.

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Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter