NWT Supreme Court Justice Annie Piche has ruled that Frederick Blake Jr. is the "duly-elected grand chief" of the Gwich'in Tribal Council (GTC), and there is no need to hold a new election for the position.

"I order the board of the Gwich'in Tribal Council to abstain from holding a new election for the position of grand chief until Frederick Blake Jr.'s term expires or until his position otherwise becomes vacant," the judge stated in a 34-page ruling released on Jan. 15. 

Blake was elected grand chief on Aug. 19, 2024, defeating incumbent Ken Kyikavichik 604 votes to 515. The day after the election, Kyikavichik filed a complaint with the GTC Elections Committee calling for a new election based on four alleged violations of the organization's election rules by Blake and members of his campaign.  

Specifically, he alleged the timing of a lawsuit filed by the Gwichya Gwich'in Council with the NWT Supreme Court was meant to influence voters, that some voters created social media posts intended to discredit him, that houses in Fort McPherson had Blake campaign signs installed in their lawns without consent, and that Blake exceeded the $10,000 spending cap for the campaign.

After an extensive review, the judge decided there was some merit to some of those allegations, but not enough to warrant a new election, or to remove Blake from his position.

"Having conducted my own review of the evidence, I conclude that Mr. Blake did breach the GTC elections rules when he failed to comply with the deadline to provide all the receipts for his personal campaign expenses," Piche said. "I also find, based on the evidence before me, that two GTC participant members on the Blake campaign team breached the GTC elections rules when they posted libellous comments about Mr. Kyikavichik on social media. However, these violations were not sufficient to call the results of the entire election into question."