Two candidates are vying for the chief's position for one of B.C.'s most contentious First Nations and one of them is not aboriginal.
Pauline Goertzen, a former band councillor for the Ts'il Kaz Koh First Nation of Burns Lake, has her name on the ballot for chief, along with another former band councillor Wes Sam.
The aboriginal group has been embroiled in a set of controversies for several months, including fist fights and sit-ins leading eventually to a large police intervention and now a court case.
The chief at the centre of it all, Al Gerow, stepped down from his position in late December. An election to fill his seat is set for Feb. 11.
Sam knows well what crossing political borders means. He was elected to Burns Lake municipal council in 2005.
"People figured the people who ran previously [others with past electoral history in Ts'il Kaz Koh] would run again, but the elders came forward and said none of that would work," said Goertzen who has done economic and social development work in the Burns Lake area for years, with special emphasis on the Ts'il Kaz Koh. "At a community meeting, a hereditary chief, an elder, said 'I want her to run' and pointed at me."
Although rare, it isn't the first time in northern B.C. or even in the Ts'il Kaz Koh's own past that a non-aboriginal candidate has run for band office. Several years ago a Caucasian challenger ran against an incumbent Ts'il Kaz Koh chief but did not win. There are no rules in the Indian Act preventing such a thing.
Furthermore, many aboriginal people don't recognize the Indian Act as valid legislation over their daily lives.
"Everyone had different reactions, and that has been the theme," said Goertzen. "There are triggers for some aboriginal people about what it means to be indigenous, the white involvement in the Indian world, some still have traumatic experiences they are processing about dealing with white people asserting authority over them, so it is not a simple thing going on here."
The ethnic issue may play a role in the minds of the 108 eligible Ts'il Kaz Koh voters (there are about 150 total band members), but there are other controversies in play.
The key issues pertain to Gerow and a faction of the band forging alleged alliances with industrial interests while hiding the details of these arrangements from the band members. Gerow stepped down as chief to take a position with TransCanada Pipelines, adding fuel to those arguments. Most Ts'il Kaz Koh members live off their downtown Burns Lake reserve and many of those live outside the region. The on-reserve population of about 30 eligible voters formed the largest part of Gerow's opposition.
Attempts to reach Gerow for comment were unsuccessful as of deadline.
Sam is seen as semi-aligned with Gerow, according to Burns Lake observers, but has not been directly involved in the Ts'il Kaz Koh politics of the past few years.
Goertzen is seen as outright hostile to the tactics Gerow was said to be using, and is promising a new era of transparency.
Sam also indicated he would want to open the doors and books of the band, but declined to comment on any details. He said he wanted to remain focused on direct communications with the band's membership during the next two weeks.
Whomever wins this by-election will have eight months before the next band general election when a full slate of Ts'il Kaz Koh councillors is selected.
