Cree-Naskapi (of Quebec) Act (S.C. 1984, c. 18)

Marginal note:Removal of council member for absence

• 70. (1) Where a council member has, without permission from the council, been absent from three or more consecutive council meetings otherwise than by reason of illness or incapacity, any fifteen electors of the band may file a petition with the band secretary requesting that a special band meeting be convened for the purpose of deciding whether the office of that council member should be declared vacant.

• Marginal note:Electors to decide question

  (2) Forthwith after the filing of a petition under subsection (1), the band shall call a special band meeting, to be held as soon as possible, for the purpose of deciding whether the office of the council member in question should be declared vacant, and if, with at least twenty per cent of the electors of the band voting on the question, the special band meeting decides that that office should be declared vacant, that office thereupon becomes vacant.

Marginal note:Returning Officers

• 71. (1) Each band shall appoint a person who is not a council member of that band as Returning Officer, and shall fix his tenure and term of office.

• Marginal note:Deputy and Assistant Returning Officers

  (2) The Returning Officer of each band shall appoint a Deputy Returning Officer and may appoint such Assistant Returning Officers as are necessary to assist him in the performance of his duties.

• Marginal note:Absence, etc., of Returning Officer

  (3) Where the Returning Officer of a band is absent or incapacitated or the office of Returning Officer is vacant, the Deputy Returning Officer of the band has and may exercise all the powers and duties of the Returning Officer.

• Marginal note:Absence, etc., of both Returning Officer and Deputy Returning Officer

  (4) In the event of the absence or incapacity of both the Returning Officer and the Deputy Returning Officer of a band or if both such offices are vacant, the band secretary has and may exercise all the powers and duties of the Returning Officer of the band.

Marginal note:Eligibility to be appointed

72. A person is not eligible to be appointed a Returning Officer or a Deputy or Assistant Returning Officer if he

• (a) is not of the age of majority under the laws of the Province;

• (b) is undergoing a term of imprisonment as a result of having been convicted of an indictable offence; or

• (c) has, at any time, been convicted of contravening a regulation made under paragraph 67(1)(b).

Marginal note:Circumstances in which office becomes vacant

73. A Returning Officer or Deputy or Assistant Returning Officer ceases to hold office forthwith if he

• (a) is convicted of contravening a regulation made under paragraph 67(1)(b);

• (b) commences a term of imprisonment as a result of having been convicted of an indictable offence; or

• (c) is declared mentally incompetent under the laws of the Province.