The following are videos taken during the June 20-21 Traditional Review Meeting at the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen.

Part 1 – Locked out

Members of the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen seeking to select new leadership as part of the 21 year review of the former Chief Edward Machimity, were blocked at the gate by his son-in-law Darrell Keesic, who is also the Saugeen Chief of Police. Edward Machimity had unilaterally selected Darrell Keesic to “a position of senior leadership” within the Band, a decision the members were strongly opposed to, and Keesic wouldn’t allow members in unless they put their signatures on a blank piece of paper.

Part 2 – Reaction to the meeting on the outside

All non-citizens of the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen were barred from being at the meeting, which was heavily policed by the OPP and Saugeen Police. This is footage from the outside of the meeting on June 20th, 2019 as members reacted to once again not having their voices heard, and again having the old Chief and Headmen seek to escape the accountability mandated by the review process by trying to cancel the two day meeting on the first day.

Part 3 – Making Decisions

After the old leadership failed to show up for the second day of the meeting, the people made their own agenda, and resolved to make changes to the way their band was being run. They met in the parking lot outside of the locked community centre, under the watchful eyes of the Saugeen Police and the OPP.

Part 4 – Choosing a New Chief

This video shows the selection process which resulted in the people of Ojibway Nation of Saugeen picking a new Chief – Ron Machimity – to serve along with headmen Desiree Jacko, Joyce Medicine, Betty Necan, Darlene Necan. The new Chief will serve a one year term, and the people will gather again on June 20-21, 2020 to select a Chief for a longer term.

Photos from the meeting

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Documents from the meeting

This is the agenda that was proposed by the old Saugeen leadership under Edward Machimity.

After the old leadership did not show up for the meeting on Friday June 21, the people continued to meet and created their own agenda, linked below.

Video from inside the building

This is video from inside the supposed review meeting held by the old ONS leadership. We apologize for the low quality sound and video and are working on producing a better quality version.