The chief of Lake St. Martin First Nation in Manitoba is facing multiple charges in connection with an alleged sexual assault of a child.
Officers arrested and charged Christopher Rodney Traverse following an investigation, Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Dani McKinnon told CBC News on Friday.
Traverse is facing four charges — sexual assault, sexual interference, as well as possessing and making child pornography.
Court records show the alleged offences happened in Winnipeg on or around Dec. 29, 2023.
Police say the child was elementary school-aged.
Traverse maintained his innocence during an in-person interview with CBC News on Tuesday. He said he was released following his arrest earlier this year.
Winnipeg police declined an interview request, and they did not provide further details on Monday.
Traverse was elected chief in July 2022. He previously served as a councillor for the Interlake-area First Nation of nearly 3,000 people, located more than 200 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
Traverse has previously said more than 1,000 community members were still displaced from flooding that devastated the First Nation in 2011. Most of them have been living in Winnipeg.
The entire community originally had to evacuate their homes due to the flooding, which a judge later ruled was at least partially the fault of the Manitoba government as it chose to divert water into Lake Manitoba to protect the city of Winnipeg.
‘I’m concerned,’ says elder
Traverse held a community meeting in a Winnipeg hotel last week. Lake St. Martin Elder Florence Wood says community elders gave Traverse a letter that day, asking him to resign as chief “for the good of the community, for the good of the kids.”
“I’m concerned,” Wood told CBC News in an interview Tuesday. “This will affect our children, and it’ll affect our grandchildren … it’s affecting the community.”
She added, “Our community should, you know, should have a chief that helps people … not step backwards.”
Traverse told CBC News he would not resign as chief.
“It’s up to him, but he’s not going to be our chief. He can’t,” Wood said in response.
“Things can’t just come to a complete standstill. Already we have a feeling that they have.”
Wood said she wants the community to move forward.
If elders don’t receive an answer to their letter within seven days, they’ve agreed to sign a petition to have Traverse removed as chief, Wood said.
Under the First Nations Election Act, a chief or councillor ceases to hold their seat if they are convicted of a crime and receive a sentence of more than 30 days. They can also lose their seat in other ways, including through a petition.
The council of Lake St. Martin First Nation says it has no comment at this time.
Lake St. Martin is a member of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, which represents 34 Anishinaabe and Dakota nations. A spokesperson for the organization said it wouldn’t be commenting on the charges.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said it wasn’t available to comment, and CBC News did not hear back as of Tuesday from the Interlake Reserves Tribal Council, of which Traverse is a board member.
His next court appearance is scheduled for July 3.