Three men who are members of the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation have made some serious accusations, saying that the chief of the band and the band administrator have been engaged in bribery in order to win support in an upcoming election. The band members say that voters are being paid to support the chief and the administrator of the band in the election that is coming up soon. All 3 of the men making the accusations have submitted sworn affidavits which detail how they were approached by either the chief or the administrator of the band and offered cash for their support in the next band election. The affidavits show that the men are stating that they were approached, either by Kevin Couselan who is the band administrator or by Chief Vern Janvier, and each man was offered $500 in cash in exchange for their support and their vote for Janvier in the next band election.

One of the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation members making accusations of bribery is 53 year old Norman Herman, who says he received a cheque in the middle of February after being denied any type of financial assistance for the last several years. Herman wrote that “I’m broke so I took the cheque and cashed it. I feel like I have been bought by Vern and Kevin.” According to the cheque stub for the check that Herman received it states the cheque was for payback for travel expenses, something Herman denies and states he never applied for. The affidavits for 46 year old Dave Cardinal and 24 year old Jared Morice state similar circumstances. According to the affidavit by Morice “I said I needed a hand and some assistance as I haven’t been working. Kevin said you are going to get a cheque on Thursday if you vote for Chief Vern and councillor Steward. I told Kevin for sure they got my vote.”