HAY RIVER - Betty Villebrun of Fort Smith has been re-elected president of the Northwest Territory Metis Nation.

Fort Smith's Betty Villebrun has been re-elected president of the Northwest Territory Metis Nation. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Villebrun won another two-year term on Nov. 27 during the organization's annual general assembly in Hay River.

"I was happy to be re-elected," she said, adding she expected there would be a vote, instead of an acclamation.

"You don't take anything for granted in the Northwest Territory Metis Nation," she said. "There's usually somebody running against somebody no matter what."

Villebrun, 51, was challenged for the leadership by Lloyd Cardinal, a former president of the Fort Resolution Metis Council.

The vote count was not released.

After she was declared winner, Villebrun said one of her main goals is to continue working towards an agreement-in-principle in long-running negotiations on governance, land and resources with the federal and territorial governments.

Before the election, Villebrun and Cardinal both briefly addressed the assembly.

Villebrun said the negotiations were her first priority when she was elected two years ago.

"I am proud of the work that we have done to move the file ahead," she said.

Villebrun told the assembly she believed unity among member communities was important when she was first elected last two years.

"As a Metis Nation, I believed then and I still do believe that we are stronger when we are united," she said. "I have worked hard as a president to ensure that our nation sticks together."

She noted other regions are struggling to stay together, pointing to Fort Liard's split from Dehcho First Nations as an example.

"This is not what I want to see for our nation. We need to stick together," she said. "As the president, I will continue to work with all our communities to ensure your issues and concerns are heard."

Villebrun also mentioned the Metis Nation's steps to gets its financial house in order and its good working relationship with the territorial government.

In his pre-vote address to the assembly, Cardinal, 59, said enumeration is an important issue.

"We need to know who our indigenous Metis people are," he said, noting those figures will be the basis of the land and money the Metis Nation will receive in its negotiations process.

Cardinal said one of the toughest issues is resolving overlap issues with Akaitcho First Nations.

"We need to have the overlap issue resolved before we get into our final agreement," he said.

As for those talks, he said, "It seems like we're not getting anywhere in negotiations. Four years ago, they said that the agreement-in-principle was almost there. They're saying that again today."

Along with Villebrun, the rest of the executive was also re-elected – Tammy Hunter of Fort Resolution as vice-president, and Ann Lobb of Hay River as secretary-treasurer.

Hunter won her position over Melody McLeod of Yellowknife, while Lobb was acclaimed.

Villebrun welcomed the re-election of the executive, which was the first all-women executive in Northwest Territory Metis Nation history when first elected two years ago.

"That is a vote of confidence for all of us to prove that we've been doing a very good job and we'll continue to do a good job," she said. "Women are very strong."

When elected two years ago, Villebrun became the organization's first female president.

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