The Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (Rocky Cree: ᐊᓯᓃᐢᑳᐏᑎᓂᐘᐠ, Asinîskâwitiniwak[2]) is a Woodland Cree First Nation in northern Saskatchewan consisting of eight communities: Denare Beach (Amisk Lake), Deschambault Lake, Kinoosao, Pelican Narrows, Prince Albert (Kiskaciwan), Sandy Bay, Southend and Sturgeon Landing. The administrative centre of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation is Pelican Narrows and the centralized government of the First Nation is located in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.[3]
Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation is governed by an Indian Act Chief and Council, elected for three year terms under the 2014 Election Code.
In 2003 and 2004, work in amending the Election Act was undertaken by staff and a Cree speaking lawyer. PBCN membership consultations were done through utilization of community committees and staff for many months. Membership at the time did a remarkable job in updating the 1994 Band Custom Election Act. However, the proposed 2004 Election Act did not pass the referendum process with 2 communities rejecting the new election act.
In August 2013, Chief and Council acquired funding from Indian Northern Affairs of Canada to begin the process again of amending the existing Election Act of 1994. Due to limited funding from the INAC, Chief and Council had suggested the work done in 2003 and 2004 be revisited and taken back to the membership for further consultations and amendments.
The work to amend the 1994 Election Act started in early September 2013. The first round of community meetings with the membership were completed on October 23, 2013. It was expected that the process would be fast-paced in order to meet the amendment deadline date. A tentative date to hold a band wide referendum was slated for January 30, or early February 2014.
The governance workers, Randy Clarke, Loretta Ballantyne, the band lawyer and other staff used input collected from technology such as surveys and the PBCN website as well as the community meetings to gather input from communities. After this process, the first draft of the 2014 Election Act was produced after it had been reviewed by the PBCN lawyer. The last round of consultations took place early December 2013 and it was passed in 2014 through a referendum. It was the membership of PBCN who decided on what amendments would be included in the election code, therefore, it was easily passed by the people.
There are 14 elected councillors, two each from Sandy Bay, Southend, and Deschambault Lake, five from Pelican Narrows, and one each from Denare Beach (Amisk Lake), Prince Albert (Kiskaciwan), and Sturgeon Landing.
Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation has reserved for itself several reserves:[4]
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