Fort Smith (Sep 06/04) - Jim Schaefer is back as chief of the Salt River First Nation, but he sees no end to divisions in the band.

Schaefer, 67, predicts he will be opposed by a faction that backed outgoing Chief Victor Marie, who did not run in the Aug. 30 election and declined comment on the results.

"They'll go to extremes to get me out of here," Schaefer says. "Not only me, but my council."

Supporters of Marie held a special meeting in November 2002 and voted out most members of the previous council, including Schaefer. However, the ousted council was reinstated by the Federal Court of Canada in May 2003.

Under a new election code, Schaefer was elected to a four-year term, compared to the previous two years.

He had been chief for more than two years before losing to Marie in 2002.

Asked why there is such division in the band, Schaefer answers with a question, "What's the root of all evil?"

That would be money, he said. The SRFN is receiving about $80 million over five years in a treaty land entitlement settlement signed in 2002 with the territorial and federal governments.

"Before that, no one cared too much about this place," Schaefer says.

The chief said he and the new council will treat all members of the band equally.

Schaefer garnered 77 votes, compared to 62 for his only competitor, Acting Chief Raymond Beaver.

"All you can do is hope that things will turn out better for the membership," says Beaver, who was the de facto leader of the band since the return of the ousted council in 2003.

Top vote-getters

The top three vote-getters among candidates for council -- Crystal Coleman, Toni Heron and Sonny MacDonald -- were elected to four-year terms.

Three others -- Fredrick Beaulieu, Christopher Bird and Robert Kenneth Laviolette -- will serve for two years.