Assembly of First Nations elects national chief after marathon vote
OTTAWA — After a late night and long morning of voting, dealmaking, concession speeches and tense last-minute pleading, Cindy Woodhouse was elected Thursday as the new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
In her new post, Woodhouse, 40, faces the daunting task of uniting more than 600 chiefs after years of bitter internal strife, punctuated with complaints from chiefs that the assembly often neglects their best interests.
That’s why Woodhouse and David Pratt, the challenger whose strong showing throughout 15 hours of voting Wednesday kept him in the race, took to the Ottawa convention centre floor in a hand-in-hand show of unity.
“I knew it wasn’t doing our convention any good to prolong it when we’re facing a housing crisis, when we’re facing a suicide, opioid, crystal meth epidemic in this country,” Pratt said as he conceded victory.
“You leave here with one word from me: We leave here united, we leave here behind our national chief. We’re back, and the future belongs to First Nations.”
Pratt, who serves as first vice-chief for the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations in Saskatchewan, trailed by about 10 per cent throughout the six rounds of votes that began Wednesday morning and ended shortly before midnight.
That’s when organizers, facing the Shaw Centre’s imminent closure for the night, called a halt to the stalemate — Woodhouse had not cleared the necessary 60 per cent vote threshold — and scheduled a seventh ballot for Thursday morning. It never happened.
“You have to work with First Nations people in a good way,” warned Woodhouse, formerly the assembly’s regional chief in Manitoba, after taking part in an elaborate oath of office ceremony.
“If you don’t listen to our people, you don’t listen to our chiefs, you don’t answer them, then there’s problems. And so, to Canada: we’re coming for you.”
Murmurings from both camps Thursday suggested Woodhouse and Pratt had reached a deal to make her the winner after latenight and early-morning discussions alongside interim national chief Joanna Bernard.
Part of the deal included collaboration between Woodhouse and Pratt on issues surrounding child welfare, Woodhouse confirmed later.
Woodhouse thanked former national chief RoseAnne Archibald during her acceptance speech, saying she “smashed glass ceilings for all of us.”
Arhibald was the first woman to be elected to the position in 50 years, but was ousted this year over the findings of an investigation into complaints from five staff members about her conduct. Woodhouse was an executive at that time.
A third-party independent review of Archibald found some of her behaviour amounted to harassment, and that she had breached confidentiality rules and violated internal policies by retaliating against complainants.
Archibald denied the allegations. Her supporters maintain she was removed from the post for trying to change the organization’s status quo.
Of the 231 chiefs who took part in the special assembly this year, 71 per cent voted to remove her.
Her ouster triggered a legitimacy crisis and divided chiefs, but Woodhouse vowed that she would work hard to bring them together and restore the assembly’s lustre. “I don’t want a big band office,” she said. “I want a strong advocacy office.”
It turns out her advocacy work is already underway. Woodhouse said she had already spoken with a number of political leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.