- Parties: The appellant was Kehewin Cree Nation. The respondent was Vernon Watchmaker.

- Subject Matter: The respondent was unsuccessful in his candidacy for re-election as the appellant’s chief. He appealed the result by filing documents with the Deputy Electoral Officer. The Electoral Officer rejected the respondent’s filing for being a few minutes late. The Electoral Officer found that the seven-day deadline for appeals under s. 15 of the First Nation’s Election Act expired on the exact minute the seven days ran out. The Federal Court quashed the Electoral Officer’s decision.

- Ruling: The appeal court ruled in the respondent’s favour, dismissed the appeal, and exercised its discretion against awarding costs of the appeal to anyone. First, the appeal court held that the issues were substantive – not procedural, as the Federal Court found – since they involved an interpretation of the First Nation’s Election Act. Next, the appeal court determined that the Federal Court should have engaged in a reasonableness review instead of applying the standard of review of correctness. Despite these errors, the appeal court concluded that the Federal Court reached the proper outcome. Lastly, the appeal court decided that the Federal Court neither erred in law nor committed palpable and overriding error on the issue of the proper remedy to be granted.

- Date: The hearing was set on Dec. 20, 2023. The court released its decision on Dec. 20, 2023.

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

- Amount: No financial award was specified.