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Little Salmon Carmacks elects new chief, council

Nicole Tom elected chief of Little Salmon Carcmacks First Nation
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The new Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation council elected Dec. 1. (Submitted)

The Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation elected Nicole Tom as its new chief Dec. 1.

Tom beat the other candidate, Edward Skookum, by 65 votes — 214 to 149.

Shirley Bellmore was elected elder councillor, defeating Billy Van Fleet with 218 votes to 147.

Tanya Silverfox and Calvin Charlie were elected Wolf councillors, with 212 and 142 votes respectively. They defeated Bill Johnnie Jr.’s 121 votes; Cody Cashin’s 75 votes; Jo-lene Mullett’s 69 votes; and Veronica Burgess’s 64 votes.

Chantelle Blackjack and Toni Blanchard were elected Crow councillors with 219 and 172 votes respectively. Terry Billy garnered 171 votes, losing the position to Blanchard by one vote. Joseph O’Brien collected 114 votes.

Zackery Cochrane will be the nation’s new deputy chief.

Tom was the nation’s previous deputy chief responsible for health and social services. She is currently enrolled in the Indigenous governance degree program at Yukon University, according to her social media page.

During her campaign, Tom pledged to develop language immersion and community safety officer programming, create a food security plan and implement the economic development portion of the nation’s final agreement.

She also spoke on the importance of salmon preservation, data governance and empowering the nation.

Contact Gabrielle Plonka at gabrielle.plonka@yukon-news.com