- Parties: The applicant was Denise Beeswax. The respondents were the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation.

- Subject Matter: The Chief and Council of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation issued a decision removing the applicant from her position as an elected Councillor of the First Nation. The applicant argued that the Council lacked jurisdiction and authority to remove her from elected office.

- Ruling: The court ruled in the applicant’s favour, granted the judicial review application of the Council’s decision removing the applicant from her elected office, and quashed the decision for being effected without jurisdiction or authority. The court reinstated the applicant as a Councillor in accordance with her election to that office on July 28, 2021. The court ordered the First Nation to pay the applicant the remuneration that she would have received as a Councillor from the date of her removal on May 3, 2022. The court held that the authority to remove the applicant from her elected position lay not with the Council and instead lay exclusively with the Minister under s. 78(2) of the Indian Act, 1985. The court found that the Council failed to assert or show that it had “inherent” power to remove the applicant from office.

- Date: The hearing was set on Apr. 25, 2023. The court released its decision on June 1, 2023.

- Venue: This was a federal case before the Federal Court.

- Amount: The court granted the applicant her costs based on Column III of Tariff B.