The Lheidli T'enneh First Nation's newly-elected chief and council are hitting the ground running.
In a turn towards youth, Clayton Pountney, 36, was elected Chief Wednesday drawing 99 votes to 84 for incumbent Dominic Frederick, who had held the job since 2004.
Also elected to the band council were Dolleen Logan (115 votes), Helen Buzas (67), Clarence John (62) and Joshua Seymour (55). All are for two-year terms.
The results were confirmed at about 2 a.m. on Thursday and 7 1/2 hours later, the newly-elected council hosted a press conference at the Lheidli T'enneh main reserve northeast of the city.
Pountney, who was first elected to band council in 2017, said they will meet next week to lay out a plan for what lies ahead but first they will all be in Vancouver this weekend to support members participating in this year's Sun Run.
It's part of an effort to promote healthy living among the Lheidli T'enneh's 450 members and has become something of a tradition that will see about 120 members participating in this year's event.
Pountney opened the conference by thanking Frederick for his contributions over the years, noting he established a community hall and an economic development office in downtown Prince George and a gas station on the reserve.
"We've had a lot of initiatives during Domo's time and we thank him and we wish him well on all his other successes," Pountney said.
Pountney went on to say Premier John Horgan has committed to enshrining in legislation the principle stated in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
"This will mean a change in how business is done on our unceded traditional lands," he said. "We want to play a greater part in sustainable development of natural resources in our territory, we want to work in partnership with industry for the benefit of our community, but we will do so with greater vigilance on environmental stewardship and increasing benefits to our community."
Fielding questions from local media, Pountney said his campaign emphasized "change and a lot of transparency and communication as well."
"Bringing the community back together," in the wake of a divisive vote on whether to ratify a treaty with B.C. and Canada is also on the agenda. By a count of 185-137, it was rejected in June 2018.
The outcome left Frederick disappointed but resigned to the fact that band members had spoken. In a subsequent letter to The Citizen, Lheidli-T'enneh Jo-Anne Berezanski said it came down to a reluctance to give up their rights to the land.
"It kind of tore apart our community," Pountney said. "We're going to have to bring everybody back together now and work together as a community to move everything forward again."
The campaign platforms of the others elected to council appeared to align with Poutney's although Seymour said his focus was on building a bridge with School District 57 in the name of bringing curriculum about Lheidli-T'enneh history and culture into the classroom.
Elissa Gagnon (68 votes), Melody Buzas (63) and Phyllis Seymour (57) will make up the lands authority.
