The leader of Onion Lake Cree Nation will be back in court in August.
In November of 2016, Chief Wallace Fox was charged with one count of assault under the Canadian Criminal Code, after the conclusion of an investigation by the Onion Lake RCMP.
Fox had been arrested on November 8, and released on condition to appear in Onion Lake Provincial Court on December 21.
While no information about the exact nature of the incident which led to the charge has been released by police, the assault complaint had been filed by Melanie Moosepayo, a former partner of Fox who lived in Onion Lake from the summer of 2015, up until when the alleged assault took place.
According to clerks at the Saskatchewan-side courthouse in Lloydminster, a representative for Fox entered a plea of not guilty during the court appearance in Onion Lake on December 21. The matter was adjourned until August 16, 2017, when a trial will take place in Onion Lake on the assault charge.
The clerks also said that the charge against Fox will be pursued with summary procedure, instead of procedure for an indictable offense.
According to the Indian Act, any conviction resulting from summary procedure will not result in the stepping down of a chief or councilor. The only conviction which could result in this outcome would be an indictable offense.
Fox was previously charged with an array of offences related to a case of domestic assault of another former common-law partner, Vicki Monague. Fox pleaded guilty to one charge of assault from that case, and was sentenced to 12 months of probation on October 20, 2016.