INUVIK
The Gwich'in Tribal Council has a new president and new direction after James Wilson, a relatively new face in politics, decisively defeated former president Richard Nerysoo in a byelection Nov. 17.

Chief returning officer Mary Ann Ross announced James Wilson is the new president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council at 11 p.m. Nov. 17. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Wilson will take the place of Robert Alexie Jr., who died suddenly in June with more than half his term left to serve. Norman Snowshoe has served as acting president since Alexie's death and will now resume the vice-president's role.

Nerysoo, who was Alexie's immediate predecessor as president, went down to defeat in a one-sided 721-399 vote.

Wilson had served a term as vice-president on the council more than a decade ago, but is a lesser-known name who claims not to be a career politician.

The results were announced by chief returning officer Mary Ann Ross at about 11 p.m. Nov. 17 from her office at the Capital Suites building.

Neither candidate was present at the announcement of the results, but Wilson spoke to the Inuvik Drum immediately following the announcement from Fort McPherson. He said he was still trying to process the ramifications of his win.

"I was a little surprised, since I thought it was going to be closer than that, but it wasn't," was Wilson's first reaction.

"I want to take things one at a time now. I'm going to go home, pack up my suitcase, and then come back."

Both Wilson and Nerysoo are Yukon residents and Wilson will now have to relocate to Inuvik as part of assuming the president's title.

"I don't think I can do this from a distance, so I'm going back, getting some things in order, and making a quick transition to Inuvik.

"I'm hoping it won't be very long, maybe a few days, and I'll be back to start working."

Wilson said his priorities will be to do a "quick review of the organization and meet a few of the key players.

"I think we also have a few key positions that are vacant and we need to get them filled, but I think I need to spend some quality time with the board and catch up on the events of the last number of years and see where we go from there."

Wilson said one of his main challenges will be to rebuild the trust of the members of the council. He said it was obvious at last August's assembly that trust had taken a beating over the last few years of turmoil in the organization.

"We have to be better able to understand what our responsibilities are, to be better planners, be better leaders. There has to be a lot of rebuilding relationships and no one is to be left in the dark as to what is happening. Not everyone has to know all of the details of what is happening, but the membership has to be given enough information that they are satisfied," Wilson said.

"We have a lot of technology, and there is no reason why we can't provide that information to our members, and that's one of the key factors that resulted in the dissatisfaction of the last few leaderships."

Nerysoo didn't return a request for an interview, but he did congratulate Wilson on his win via Facebook.

"I want to send my congratulations and best wishes to James Wilson who is the president-elect of the Gwich'in Tribal Council," stated the post.

"If there was a motion to present I would move it and seek the unanimous support of all those who cast a vote so that we are united in our decision."

The voter turnout was approximately 43 per cent, Ross said. She was reasonably satisfied with the way the election ran.

"I thought it was great. I had really hoped a lot of people would come out. We really pushed people to get the mail-in ballots back on time.

"There were some hiccups, and I think people outside the Gwich'in Settlement Area in Edmonton, Yellowknife and Whitehorse were expecting polling stations. Because it was a byelection, we didn't have stations."

Ross said she hopes eventually the tribal council will move to electronic voting, which will be more cost-effective and accessible.

She said she will provide a number of recommendations for the Gwich'in Tribal Council on its election processes for their consideration in future elections.

As a Gwich'in member herself, and a former vice-president, Ross said she was happy to see a solid result from the election, and hoped that Wilson would be able to provide a "new direction" and some stability to the organization.

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