Lucinda Phillips was re-elected as chief of the Lil'wat Nation on Saturday (March 9), while members of the Mount Currie band also ratified new Election and Citizenship codes via referendum.
Phillips received more than 48 per cent of the votes in Saturday's three-person race for chief. The 285 ballots cast in her name were 54 greater than former chief Fraser Andrew, who was the first runner-up. Vaughan Gabriel earned 70 votes.
Nine incumbents were also re-elected to the 12-member council. Gabriel was among the nine councillors voted back in, joined by returnees Joshua Anderson, Chris Irving, Lois Joseph, Maxine Joseph-Bruce, Dean Nelson, Nadine Pascal, Tara Smith and Rosemary Stager.
Alphonse (Eyes) Wallace, Joanne John and Felicite Nelson were the three newcomers elected to the council table on Saturday.
Dean Nelson, with 377, earned the most votes among the 31 candidates in the running for council, while Wallace garnered 368.
The new Lil'wat Election Code will be in effect when Mount Currie goes to the polls in 2015, having passed on Saturday by a count of 393 votes for, 178 against. The code establishes a two-chief system and four-year terms for elected officials.
The Citizenship Code was passed with 75 per cent of ballots cast in favour of the amended regulations. With the new code ratified, children born to one citizen parent of the Lil'wat Nation are now immediately granted membership status, eliminating the double-parent rule that previously existed.
The Question will have more on this story in Thursday's (March 14) print edition.
