The Assembly of First Nations national chief election is underway with three front-runners and no winner emerging after a first-ballot vote on Wednesday, setting the stage for a potentially drawn-out, multi-round contest lasting into the evening.
Cindy Woodhouse, the AFN’s current regional chief for Manitoba, came out ahead with 35.1 per cent support from the 444 First Nations leaders who voted. David Pratt, first vice-chief for the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations in Saskatchewan, trails with 25.6 per cent support.
Sheila North, former grand chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and runner-up in the 2018 national chief election, is in third with 13.9 per cent support. The voting continues for additional rounds until someone reaches 60 per cent support.
After the results, Woodhouse immediately started circulating in the convention room at downtown Ottawa’s Shaw Centre to speak with delegates and rustle up more support, while Pratt and North huddled for a whispered meeting before also splitting up to continue campaigning.
Six were vying to succeed RoseAnne Archibald atop the largest Indigenous advocacy organization in Canada, after the Cree leader who pressed for radical reform was ousted earlier this year, following harassment allegations and two regional chief-led revolts.
Reginald Bellerose, Craig Makinaw and Dean Sayers are also running. Sayers came fourth on the first ballot, while Bellerose and Makinaw came fifth and sixth and were eliminated, as per the AFN’s charter.
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After his concession speech, Makinaw said he would meet with his team to decide who he would support. He focused his campaign on a need to reset relations with the federal government and return to a focus on substantive issues.
“It’s going to be a good opportunity for AFN to move forward,” Mackinaw told CBC Indigenous after the vote.
“I’m hoping that will happen, and for everybody to work together again. That’s what needs to happen.”
In a statement issued after the results, Bellerose said he was “in high spirits and good medicine.” He urged his supporters to vote for Sayers on the second ballot.
Delegates who spoke with CBC Indigenous before the vote stressed the need for unity and to return the organization to national prominence following years of political tumult, involving allegations of misogyny, corruption, bullying and harassment, culminating in Archibald’s toppling through a vote of non-confidence this July.
The AFN is a national advocacy organization that represents more than 630 chiefs countrywide, not a government, and only chiefs or their designated proxy can vote in its elections.
Additional rounds of voting will continue Wednesday until a winner is declared, with the potential to extend into Thursday.