The law didn’t protect her job when she ran for band council. A six-year battle won protections for Saskatchewan First Nations

When Janna Pratt decided to run for band council on the Saskatchewan reserve where she grew up, she was shocked to find that, unlike settler politicians, she wasn't able to take a leave from her job to serve her community, or even campaign. She would have to quit.

In the six years since, the 41-year-old Cree/Saulteaux woman has battled both her employer, SaskTel, and the province to change Saskatchewan's Employment Standards Act. On March 27, an amendment to the act - to be known as Janna's Law - was adopted, enabling First Nations leaders to have the same job protections as their counterparts.

Pratt is now hoping to convince lawmakers in the rest of Canada that this legislative oversight should be fixed.

"People need to recognize that we have four levels of government in this country: federal, provincial, municipal and band council," said Pratt, a customer sales representative. "The workload at the band council level is the same as working as a city councillor or a mayor. It's a full-time job."

Back in 2013, when Pratt, who hails from Gordon First Nation, near Punnichy, Sask., contemplated a run for band council, she consulted her longtime employer, the province's main telecom provider. She wanted to ensure her job would be waiting for her should she take a leave to serve a political term. She was stunned to discover that SaskTel's corporate policy did not include Indigenous elections.

"Basically, I had to choose between my stable job or serving my community," said Pratt. "I couldn't believe it."

Back then, a band councillor at Gordon First Nation made about $30,000 a year. (Currently they make $39,000.) Pratt would have had to step away from a $50,000-a-year job with a supportive supervisor, and forfeit her seniority. There was no guarantee any of that would be waiting for her at the end of the two-year band councillor term. That scenario wasn't something Pratt, a single mother of one at the time, thought she could handle.

"It would have been a big sacrifice to give up my regular salary for a band councillor salary, but to think that I had to make that sacrifice and not have a well-paying job to return to once the term was up was too much financially," said Pratt.

By comparison, city councillors in nearby Regina make more than $45,000 a year, and according to provincial law, are entitled to return to their previous employ.

Pratt, backed by her union, Unifor, brought her concerns to the bargaining table with her employer. Negotiations ended with an amendment to SaskTel's policy, allowing employees to seek nomination for band council.

With her leave granted and a secure job waiting, Pratt launched her campaign for band council in 2013.

Pratt recalls that, though she held her fellow candidates in high esteem, there was a lack of professional and educational experience. And when she lost the election, she couldn't let go of the feeling that, "if more people were offered job security, the number of candidates with more education would be much higher."

And so, following her loss, Pratt took a closer look at provincial and federal labour law, only to discover neither offered job security for Indigenous elections. In fact, the Saskatchewan Employment Act, while progressive in Canada for even offering job security for political leave, still discriminated against First Nations, said Pratt, who pored over the legislation.

"That was the moment I became an activist."

Bolstered by her SaskTel victory, Pratt took her fight for inclusivity to the provincial level. She attended labour conferences, lobbying others to take action.

In the fall of 2016, she met Saskatchewan New Democrat MLA David Forbes, who took on the issue. Forbes shared Pratt's surprise over the exclusion in the employment act. As a former teacher, Forbes, knew he could always return to his scholastic career if he ever lost his provincial seat.

Forbes wrote to provincial Labour Relations Minister Don Morgan petitioning for change.

"This is a good thing for the government to do, especially in the spirit of truth and reconciliation. It seems like an oversight for decades to our colonial eyes," Forbes said during last fall's sitting of the legislature. "I would say in our whiteness, we have forgotten that there are Indigenous elections."

When Janna's Law was finally passed a few weeks ago, Pratt was scheduled to speak in the Saskatchewan legislature, but couldn't because of the coronavirus lockdown.

"It was a little disappointing. But, I'm so happy that this has finally become law," said Pratt, who has aspirations to one day run for chief of Gordon First Nation. "I'm doing it for all of those who want to serve their home community but need their job security."

Pratt's victory drew admiration from Sen. Lillian Dyck, the first First Nations woman appointed to the Senate, and who also comes from Gordon First Nation.

"It's such a remarkable story of someone who faced a barrier and overcame it," said Dyck. "A lot of people would just walk away rather than find a solution."

But this isn't the end of the fight for Pratt. The change in her home province is just the first step in her plan to lobby for this type of job security, including for First Nations band council hopefuls, across the country.

"I am astonished that other jurisdictions still don't have any employment protection for office seekers and holders," said Larry Brown, formerly of the Saskatchewan Department of Labour, who helped amend provincial employment law in 1971 to allow for political leave.

Though job protection for leave to campaign or serve in elected officemight exist in some collective agreements and corporate policies across the nation, no other provincial, territorial or federal laws offer the same protections as Saskatchewan. This means Pratt, in her national efforts, will be petitioning to add an entire section into employment standards acts, as well as ensuring that band council is included.

"You would have to start from scratch to include political leave and be sure to recognize Indigenous government as part of that while building the legislation," said Jim Stanford, an economist and director of the Centre for Future Work.

Pratt, along with Forbes, will be contacting other provincial labour ministers. The two have drawn their inspiration from the reservist leave law that came into effect in 2007 all across Canada.

Maj. Wallace Noseworthy, a reservist in the Canadian military, had to quit his job managing a car dealership in Stephenville, N.L., after he was not granted a leave to serve abroad. Up until then, there were no job protections for reservists, federally or provincially. Noseworthy lobbied from overseas and his personal story fuelled a campaign that, within just a year and a half, resulted in changes to employment acts in every province and territory, as well as on a federal level.

"Once the movement gets going, there tends to be a bit of copying and adjusting as different legislatures take it on," said Kevin Banks, director of the Queen's Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace. "If there is public sympathy, as there was with the reservists, things can move very quickly."

The Canadian Labour Congress, the national lobby group for Canada's labour movement, has also taken an interest in Pratt's fight.

"We are going to be very supportive of this initiative and will help out however we can. This should be a fundamental right for every Canadian," said CLC president Hassan Yussuff.

"Often it just takes one person's story to draw attention to gaps in our laws to start a conversation that ripples across the country."

Andrea Macdonald is a digital producer based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @puddin_and_pie