Four candidates are running for the position of Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO).
The final list of candidates consists of incumbent Grand Chief David Harper, journalist Sheila North Wilson, Tyler Duncan and William Elvis Thomas.
MKO, which represents most northern Manitoba reserves, will hold its election on Wednesday, September 2.
The new grand chief will be elected by a vote of chiefs and councillors from MKO’s 30 member First Nations during its 34th annual general assembly.
Thomas served Nelson House’s Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (NCN) as a councillor from 1998 to 2006. He ran unsuccessfully for MKO grand chief in 2009 and for NCN chief in 2010 and 2014.
Duncan, a three-term youth chief for Norway House Cree Nation and former MKO youth council grand chief, ran for the presidency of the Manitoba NDP party earlier this year.
Originally from Oxford House, North Wilson moved to Winnipeg to finish school when she was 15 and has experience as a reporter with NCI Radio, CBC and CTV. She also spent time as the communications officer for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
Harper is a former chief of Garden Hill First Nation and was first elected as MKO grand chief in September 2009, succeeding Sydney Garrioch. He was re-elected in 2012.
To be elected grand chief, a candidate must receive more than 50 per cent of all ballots cast by registered voters with additional rounds of voting if no one reaches that threshold on the first ballot.
– Thompson Citizen
