Atleo maintained a healthy lead ahead of his seven challengers in all three rounds of voting, coming just three votes shy of the 60 per cent majority required in the second round. He won by 67 per cent in the third round of voting — a far cry from the marathon eight ballots it took to elect him in 2009.
The 45-year-old hereditary chief of the Ahousaht First Nation and two-time B.C. regional AFN chief, faced loud criticism for being too cozy with the Conservative government in his role as head of the AFN, but he told the chiefs that he would make good on his election promise to “open doors or kick them down.”
“We will stand and put the final stake in colonization,” he told the crowd to cheers and drumming. “We are stronger by working together.”
“The unilateral patterns of the past must end,” he told reporters, noting the struggle of the First Nations people is part of a global rights battle by indigenous peoples. “The way forward is respectful treaty implementation. That includes reaching out to corporate Canada and explaining to them that they have a responsibility for this as well.
“No government has acted in good faith. Every government has attempted to sweep aside treaty rights and so this work continues.”
As he did in his previous election campaign, Atleo has promised to push forward on achieving a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women. He also spoke about the need to act on poor living conditions, education, high suicide rates, sovereignty and fairly sharing resource revenues.
Atleo had strong backing from the B.C. region, which holds 202 of the votes — the most of any province.
Only chiefs could vote in the election, held as part of the AFN annual general assembly at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Out of the 634 chiefs, only about 540 chiefs or proxies voted during the election.
His closest challenger out of his seven opponents was Pam Palmater, Mi’kmaq lawyer and academic director of the Centre for Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University. A newcomer in First Nations politics and one of an unprecedented four female candidates, her election bid was driven by her outspoken criticism of Atleo’s relationship with the federal government and a following built up through social media — a first in the AFN elections.
Bill Erasmus, the Dene national chief and a high-profile candidate who stayed in the race to the end, said the executive committee needs to sit down and discuss how to best provide support to the First Nations People.
“The 130 communities that didn’t vote for the national chief, we have to bring them in,” he said.
AFN regional chief George Stanley and Manitoba lawyer Joan Jack were taken off the ballot after the first round of voting, followed in the second round by Ellen Gabriel, a Quebec Women’s Association member. Terrance Nelson, the former five-time chief of the Roseau River First Nation and controversial proponent of speaking with the Iranian parliament to obtain First Nations membership in OPEC, bowed out after the second round followed by former Treaty 3 grand chief Diane Kelly.
Source:the star
Author: Alyshah Hasham
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