Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Thursday, July 5, 2007

FORT PROVIDENCE - The Deh Gah Got'ie Dene First Nation leadership in Fort Providence remains virtually unchanged following an election on June 19.

Six of the members of the previous council were re-elected. Priscilla Canadien, the only new member of the team this term, was elected to fill the space left by Sam Elleze who had previously been appointed to a seat with the elder's council.

A total of 129 ballots were cast on voting day in addition to the 21 votes recorded during the advance polls, said Phoebe Parent, the returning officer. A total of 514 band members were eligible to vote.

The council will be headed by Chief Berna Landry who was acclaimed when no one else put their name forward.

This will be Landry's fifth consecutive year as chief. She was elected in July 2003. Landry also served a term between 1992-94 making this her fourth two-year term.

Landry said she hadn't planned to run for chief again and waited until the last minute to put her name forward after no one else did. A number of elders also asked her to continue her role as chief, said Landry.

"I feel really honoured that people feel confident in me to ask me to run again," she said.

After having three grandchildren in the last two years, Landry said she's been busy juggling her work and family life.

"I thought I was just going to stay home and be a grandma," said Landry.

After remaining in the role, however, Landry said she's looking forward to working on continuing issues.

One of the ongoing projects that Landry hopes to see completed this term is the election code.

Over the past two years the band has been working to make revisions to the code. To get public input, approximately 60 band members have been interviewed out of a planned 150.

People have been asked how they'd like elections to be conducted, how long a term should be, what the voting age should be and whether sobriety should be a necessary qualification for leadership.

"I think it's important the right people run for band councils," said Landry.

Many band members have also commented that a two-year term is too short and that the elections for chief and council should be staggered so both aren't changed at once and consistency can be maintained, said Landry.

The second priority on Landry's agenda is economic development.

The council has established an economic development corporation and has an economic development officer on staff. Following a number of meetings on business opportunities, the band is considering reopening its store, she said. In 2002 the band's Yamoria Store was closed.

"We've learned from our mistakes in the past," she said.

With all the money set to come to the community from residential school payments there are also plans to hold meetings on investing and maybe have people buy shares in the store.

"We want to make our people aware that there is such a thing as investing," she said.

Landry said there are lots of opportunities for economic development in the town, it's just a matter of developing a plan and getting the ball rolling.