After a decade of fighting the Qalipu band enrolment process, one advocate looks back

A long-awaited court battleover membership criteria for Qalipu First Nation will wrap up this weekbut one of the organizers of the challenge says regardless of the outcome, the fight isn't over yet.

Helen Darrigan is one of the co-founders of the Friends of Qalipu Advocacy Association, which is challenging the enrolment criteria for Qalipu First Nation.

"We care about the right verdict, we care about injustices and we're not going to shut up about it," she said Monday.

That injustice, according to Darrigan, was the implementation of a 2013 agreement between the federal government and the Federation of Newfoundland Indians, the organization that created Qalipu First Nation.

The agreement changed the criteria for membership in Qalipu First Nation, introducing a complex point system that required applicants to provide proof in several categories including controversially maintenance of a Mi'kmaw way of life.

Out of more than 104,000 applicants, only 18,044 were approved for membership. More than 10,391 founding members were removedfrom the band.

"They deliberately, I feel, set out to weed people out," she said.

For over a decade, Darrigan has been organizing and fundraising in an effort to challenge the 2013 agreement in court.

"It's just wrong on principle," she said. "To have the federal government and the FNI sign a contract and then change it."

Some families were divided, with some members getting in while others were rejected.

Darrigan said some applicants and former Qalipu First Nation members died before getting status including members of her own family.

"All the ones that have passed know what's going on," she said.

Appeal likely

According to the Friends of Qalipu, the FNI entered into the supplemental agreement without permission of its membership.

Five plaintiffs, all founding members of FNI, took the stand during the trial, describing their shock at being removed from the band.

Plaintiff lawyers Keith Morgan and Anna Morgan also called some people involved in the creation of the band, like Qalipu First Nation CEO Annie Randell.

"We never imagined the number of applications we received," Randell said during her testimony.

The lawyers for the federal government and the FNI, the two defendants named in the statement of claim, didn't call any witnesses.

Current Qalipu First Nation Chief Brendan Mitchell didn't testify, and in an email to CBC News said he couldn't comment on an ongoing court case.

The lawyers for the Friends of Qalipu, the FNI and the federal government are set to make final arguments this week, but it could be months before Justice Valerie Marshall delivers her decision.

Regardless of the outcome, Darrigan expects an appeal, meaning more fundraising to keep the court challenge going.

Darrigan said the group plans to continue fighting the agreement no matter how long it takes.

"We may be gone before it gets settled," she said.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador