Baker Lake's mayor will stay on as mayor despite a vote from the hamlet council asking him to step down, after he was charged with assault last month.

Shawn Attungala, 44, was charged with assault on Sept. 8. He's expected to appear in court on the charge Dec. 4.

He has chaired meetings since councillors voted in favour of a motion calling for him to resign on Sept. 27.

Baker Lake's senior administrative officer Sheldon Dorey says the vote was non-binding.

"In accordance with the Hamlet Act or Elections Act... there's no legislation that would make him have to leave the seat of mayor," Dorey said.

Confusion over legislation

MLA Cathy Towtongie asked the Minister of Community and Government Services Lorne Kusugak about this apparent gap in the law in the legislature on Monday.

She said the legislation allows for hamlet councils to remove a member for repeat non-attendance, but there seems to be no authority to remove members "for other disciplinary reasons such as serious criminal charges."

"As elected members of the Legislative Assembly, we have the right to discipline ourselves and I believe that elected members of our municipal councils should have the same authority," Towtongie said.

Kusugak said he thought hamlet councils already had that authority.

"I don't have that legislation in front of me. From my understanding, if a hamlet councillor breaks the law, they have a way to remove the councillor in the by-laws," he told Towtongie in the Legislative Assembly.

Attungala has not responded to repeated requests for interviews.

He was voted in as mayor in 2017. The next regular Baker Lake council meeting is scheduled for Thursday.