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Tla’amin Nation announces election candidates

Election officer releases names of those vying for historic first council

Candidate names for the upcoming Tla’amin Nation election were released Friday, August 5.

Tla’amin citizens will be going to the polls on Saturday, September 10, to select a hegus and eight legislators in its first election as a self-governing nation.

Three candidates are vying for the hegus position: John Hackett, Vern Pielle and Clint Williams. Pielle ran against incumbent hegus Williams in 2014.

Meanwhile, 19 candidates are running for the eight legislator positions. Alphabetically, they are: Grace Adams, incumbent Gloria Francis, Verna Francis, Anthony George, incumbent Brian Hackett, incumbent John Hackett, Samuel Hackett, Doreen Hopkins, David Louie, incumbent Larry Louie, incumbent Shawn Louie, incumbent Walter Paul, Doreen Point, Denise Smith, incumbent Lori Sparrow, Neil Timothy, Tracy Timothy, Williams and Tyrone Wilson. Williams is running for both hegus and legislator.

Under Tla’amin’s new election laws, if Williams wins both seats he will automatically sit as hegus, but not as legislator, and the next candidate in order of votes will take a seat at the legislature.

Longtime Tla’amin election officer Fred Schiffner said he is looking forward to overseeing the election.

“It much more challenging to do than the old elections, but it’s far less biased. There’s a great deal more control on campaigning,” said Schiffner. “It’s a really good thing for the first nation.”

When the upcoming election was called all Tla’amin band members were notified through mail, he said.

More than 650 voters are currently enrolled as Tla’amin citizens and permitted to cast ballots. Approximately 850 band members were eligible to participate in the last election. Schiffner said people still have the chance to enrol as citizens leading up to voting day.

Electronic polls opened Tuesday, August 9, at noon and will remain open until close of polls at 8 pm on election day.

Schiffner expects results of the vote to be tallied and complete about three hours after polls close. If there is a tie, a complete recount is required. Results may be postponed until the following morning, he said.