Chief Leroy Denny given four more years to lead Eskasoni
A jubilant Chief Leroy Denny live-streamed a message to his community Tuesday night after learning he had won yet another election and will lead the Eskasoni First Nation for another four years. He already has 15 years of leadership under his belt with the largest Mi'kmaq community in the world.
Speaking in Mi'kmaq and English, the first thing the chief did was express gratitude to those who helped him come through a contentious election in which he was up against six other candidates. And the second thing he did was express respect to all the candidates who put their names forward to run.
'We heard your issues,' he said. 'Let's get on with the work. Let's focus on healing.'
During the election, the candidates were respectful of each other, but people in the community took to social media to throw out unfounded accusations of everything from fraud, to greed and nepotism, to improprieties of all kinds.
But at the end of counting day Tuesday, Chief Denny won the most votes with 1,148 cast for him. The vote counts were unofficial as of deadline time.
And just as the returning chief was gracious in victory, other candidates for chief were gracious in their unsuccessful attempts.
Candidate Darlene Marshall wrote on social media that she wanted to thank the community for the honour of candidacy for chief this term.
'Regardless of who is elected, want to express my optimism that our community will continue throughout this upcoming term to be respected with transparency and accountability by our leadership. Our community should be a reflection of community members and governed for us by us,' she said.
Fellow candidate, Alyssia Jeddore was equally gracious in her response to Denny's win.
'I am so grateful to the 693 people who believed in me! This was such an eye-opening experience – hearing all the things our community wants and needs. I am truly humbled by it,' she said. 'I was so happy to show what a community approach to campaigning looked like, and it took off like wildfire. One of my goals was to unite the community which I saw happen with all the positive events that took place.
'I truly love our community and our people. All I ever wanted for our community was to strengthen what exists currently. I want to congratulate the elected Chief Denny and Council. Let's go!'
For his part, Chief Denny summed up what most of the candidates said in their approach to voters: 'We all love Eskasoni.'
NEW COUNCILLORS
The youngest candidate for band council, Cole Stevens, 21, and a local sports star, garnered 423 votes in his first try at politics.
Twelve councillors were elected out of a field of 61 running. Only two, Kateri Stevens and Jerod Francis are new to council: (unofficial counts)
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