Grand chief’s accusers receive legal threat

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/07/2019 (1882 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The couple who accused Manitoba’s top Indigenous leader of sending inappropriate text messages say they received a legal threat, warning them to stop talking about the issue.

In a letter obtained by the Free Press, lawyer David Walker accuses Matthew Shorting of making “salacious accusations” online about Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas and not making an effort to verify them. Shorting is threatened with legal action if he doesn’t retract the statement.

Meanwhile, Dumas has surrendered his cellphone for some sort of AMC investigation, possibly to test his claim that someone impersonated his phone number.

On July 9, Bethany Maytwayashing went public with a string of recent Facebook messages she received earlier this month from a person using a pseudonym, which were followed by text messages attributed to Dumas’s cellphone number.

Dumas has said he didn’t send the messages and claims someone falsified his phone number for an unspecified political reason. Within three days, he took a leave of absence from his job as grand chief.

Screenshots of the discussion first appeared online, posted by Maytwayashing’s boyfriend, Shorting.

The Free Press recently obtained a cease-and-desist letter addressed to Shorting within days of his online post.

Walker said Friday the letter is only a draft.

Shorting did not provide the Free Press with a copy, but confirmed he had received a similar letter by email.

The assembly, which subsists largely on federal funding grants, insisted Friday it hasn’t paid for legal services.

“We have not spent any monies in legal fees defending the grand chief,” wrote AMC spokeswoman Natalie Ballentyne. “He has retained his own legal counsel.”

No statement of claim had been filed as of Friday against Maytwayashing nor Shorting.

Maytwayashing has asked for an independent, forensic investigation into whether Dumas’s phone was hacked. After repeated questioning, the assembly provided Winnipeg lawyer Jamie Kagan, who disclosed his firm (Thompson Dorfman Sweatman) is investigating the issue, all the while dismissing “a circus-like atmosphere” around the incident.

“It’s happening all over Canada now; it’s like a ripple effect. More chiefs are getting exposed for their behaviour.”– Bethany Maytwayashing

The “independent assessment” focuses on Dumas’s assertion his self-described “open and informal communication style” could make people uncomfortable and “may not be suited to the role of grand chief.”

“We’re trying to look at more how we get better, as opposed to the past,” Kagan said Friday, saying the focus is to prevent future issues and determine what has happened.

That includes a review of the security of AMC’s digital security. Kagan confirmed the grand chief’s cellphone was submitted to an information-technology firm, though he refused to name the company.

“My understanding is that they have looked at his phone; I don’t know exactly what they were looking at. But I know that he turned over his phone.”

Two digital-forensic firms told the Free Press so-called spoof texts are relatively common, and it’s not difficult to confirm whether a phone sent such messages, though it requires a few hours to examine the device.

Maytwayashing said she’d be happy to surrender her phone for a few hours to help with such a probe. She said the assembly hasn’t reached out to her since its women’s council suspended its attempt to meet with her.

Both accused each other of acting in bad faith.

“The AMC just turned their back on me,” she said.

“They do not care about our Indigenous women.”

This week, the Assembly of First Nations, a national body that collaborates with the AMC, was roiled by accusations of harassment against its Atlantic regional chairman Morley Googoo, whom the AFN has moved to suspend.

“It’s happening all over Canada now; it’s like a ripple effect. More chiefs are getting exposed for their behaviour,” Maytwayashing said.

A former commissioner of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Michèle Audette, told APTN this week the inquiry heard allegations against chiefs. She said many Indigenous communities lack an independent safe space for women to seek support and justice.

“The collateral damage is huge,” Audette said.

Almost all First Nations chiefs in Manitoba will gather this coming week for the AMC general assembly.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca