Nazko First Nation Chief Leah Stump has now officially been sworn in.
Stump was re-elected back on December 15th, along with Councillors Delores Alec and Anthony Perry, and a swearing-in ceremony was held out in Nazko on Friday.
“The swearing in ceremony was great. It was the first one that Nazko First Nation has had. We had visitors from our neighbouring communities, Lheidli-T’enneh, we had the RCMP, the local Mayor, we had the Indigenous Relations Liaison from the Mayor’s office, we had all of our business partners, West Fraser, the Barkerville Historic town.”
Stump says their vision for the next two years is to continue on with the work that they started in their first two years in office.
“We have a lot of projects on the go with our Stump Lake Cultural site, we have our bridge that’s going to go in to restore our fish in Stump Lake, we have a lot of youth engagement that we want to continue, and to work on the healing of the community with the findings of the St. Joseph Mission School. It’s had a big impact on our community as most of our community members attended the St. Josephs Residential School.”
We asked Stump what stood out in her first term.
“I think the highlights of the first two years is bringing the community back together. Nazko community and their elders have always been proud people that work together and gather and do things together. So bringing them back together after COVID has been a very big accomplishment, and bringing that pride back into the community.”
Stump says there was a lot of isolation during COVID, and she says living an hour west of Quesnel they are already isolated.
She says dealing with the deaths that COVID brought to their community was also very hard.
Stump says her first two years flew by quickly, and she says they are looking at possibly going to four year terms.
“We’re under the Indian Act, so we have two year terms, but the community has brought it up that they would like to have Chief and Council sit on four year terms, so that is something that we will be working on in the next couple of months.”
Stump says she feels they have a very good team on Council.
“This is our second term that all three of us have been elected in, so I think it works better when it’s consistent and we work together well. I am glad to be serving in office with them.”
Stump says she would like to thank the community and her supporters for allowing her to represent them for another two years.
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