A convicted drug trafficker is running for chief of a reserve in east-central Saskatchewan.

Key First Nation is being forced back to the polls on June 11 after a federal judge found their last election had been corrupted by widespread vote-buying and other improprieties.

Clarence Papequash, also a former chief of Key First Nation, is running again.

He got out of jail in December after pleading guilty earlier in the year to possession of codeine with the intent to traffic it, and possession of prohibited weapons.

Papequash received a one-year sentence in April 2017, two months after being released on bail for those charges.

He had been a band councillor at the time and was suspended the day after the charges were laid following an RCMP raid on his home and vehicle.

"I don't think that's an issue. I think you know I paid my dues to society. I'm a free man. I can do anything I want," he said.

"It doesn't say in the act that we can't run. There's no law saying that we can't run. You know, if the people still trust me I'm gonna run — and that's what's happening here."

Previous councillors running despite ruling

In Judge Robert Barnes' decision, which annulled the band's 2016 election, he said the election "was sufficiently corrupted by the misconduct" of elected chief Rodney Brass and councillors Glen O'Soup, Sidney Keshane and Angela Desjarlais.

Two of those people, Angela Desjarlais and Sidney Keshane, are running for council along with 20 others. Key residents said Brass was nominated to run for chief, but that he has since bowed out.

Papequash was among those who launched the federal court appeal of the last election. He said he is upset and feels it's unfair that those people are allowed to run.

"Something's wrong with the system here," he said.

Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) said the First Nations Election Act, which Key First Nation follows, does carry an automatic five-year prohibition from being a candidate in future election if someone has committed the offence of vote-buying.

"With respect to the Federal Court decision related to the previous Key First Nation election, despite the finding that there was vote buying, no one has been charged with, or convicted of, an offence under the First Nations Elections Act. Thus, no one is prevented from being a candidate at the upcoming election for these reasons," INAC wrote in an e-mailed statement.

It added that the Act does not prevent a qualified candidate from running due to having a criminal record or outstanding charges.

Also running for chief alongside Papequash are Carey O'Soup and Eleanore Brass-Brazeau.