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OTTAWA — Dissident members of a tiny Vancouver Island First Nation, frustrated by the federal government’s refusal to end a 30-year family “dictatorship,” are heading to court to fight for their democratic rights.

The decision to go to the Federal Court of Canada came after the three-person Da’naxda’xw First Nation council — controlled by Chief Gordon Glendale and his elderly mother Anne Glendale — refused at a public meeting in Campbell River on Saturday to hold an election.

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The dissidents have been fighting for years to get the federal government to force the Glendales, who took formal control of the community in 1987, to share power.

The 19-member Glendale family lives in the village of Tsatsisnukwomi, also known as New Vancouver, on Harbledown Island. The community is about 25 kilometres east of Alert Bay on the northeastern tip of Vancouver Island.

The remaining 208 nation members live off reserve, mostly in nearby Vancouver Island communities such as Alert Bay and Campbell River.