Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (Oct 21/02) - A new date has been set to choose a chief and council for West Point First Nation.

Election day is now Monday, Nov. 18. It had originally been set for Oct. 28.

A nomination meeting, presided over by election officer Peter Redvers, will be held Oct. 29.

The new dates and procedures were formally approved by the band council on Oct. 10. They were put in place for the 2002 election only in the absence of a formally adopted customary election code.

"Once a new chief and council are elected, they are strongly urged to develop and adopt -- through resolution of a majority of band members at the 2003 general band meeting -- a formal, written customary election code which would come into effect for the fall 2004 election," Redvers wrote in an information sheet detailing the election process.

The 70-member West Point First Nation has been in a state of flux politically for nearly two months.

Karen Thomas resigned as chief in late August, alleging mismanagement and nepotism by the current council. There have been calls by her supporters for a new chief and council to be chosen by the band's elders.

Thomas said she will run again to become chief in the Nov. 18 election, if there is an expression of support by band members.

"If that's what the band members want, I will."