GULL BAY FIRST NATION -- Wilfred King will remain chief of Gull Bay First Nation after winning a landslide re-election bid.
King beat former chief Miles Nowegijick 332 to 163, band officials announced on Sunday.
King said winning the vote – along with all 10 council candidates he endorsed – means he’s got a four-year mandate to move the community forward.
“I am excited for the opportunity to have a term in office in which council can finally make serious headway against challenges we currently face,” King said in a release issued by the band.
“A two-year term doesn’t provide enough time to advocate or offer enough security to funders to initiate the types of infrastructure projects that our Nation so desperately needs - let alone actually see it through development and completion.”
The new four-year terms were introduced with the transition to the First Nations Elections Act, doubling the previous term length.
King called the old term length limits were a tool used by the federal government to foster an environment that prevents First Nations communities from prospering.
"Even if a Nation has internal capacity, in so far as having qualified and/or experienced staff amongst their membership to move critical business forward, a shortened mandate is prohibitive to successfully conducting all of the requirements associated with managing the bureaucracy and obtaining the necessary approvals,” King said.
“It is only righteous and just that First Nations be permitted to operate in the same fashion as their municipal, provincial and federal counterparts.”
King said his goal over the next four years will be to ensure the Crown consults with his community and doesn’t issue land-use permits to individual or corporate interests without getting the go-ahead from Gull Bay First Nation.
“We will commence an aggressive pursuit towards the creation of an Impact Benefit Agreement with Lac des Iles Mines, stemming from the previous Letter of Mutual Respect and Understanding that was struck between Gull Bay First Nation and North American Palladium which previous covered the areas of employment/training and mentoring; environmental monitoring and protection; economic development opportunities with Gull Bay First Nation joint venture partners; and resource revenue sharing,” said King.
Under his leadership, Gull Bay First Nation reached an $8-million agreement with the federal government on specific timber royalties and also reached a deal with Ontario Power Generation on flooding.
Nowegijick was chief of the community from December 2010 to January 2013.
