Cindy Woodhouse was elected the Assembly of First Nations’ (AFN) new National Chief in a vote that went late into the evening yesterday.
Regional Chief Terry Teegee, the Regional AFN Chief, said he is excited to work alongside Woodhouse and her quest to “right the ship” inside the AFN.
RoseAnne Archibald, the previous AFN National Chief, was removed over the summer in a 71% vote after an internal report found her guilty of “wrongdoing and harassing five employees.”
“There is [also] a lot of work to do with the Federal Government on many issues we are dealing with,” he added, using homelessness, toxic drugs, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and implementing the United Nations Declaration Act.
After six rounds of voting, David Pratt, the other leading candidate for the position, conceded to Woodhouse, who was acclaimed.
Separately, federal consultations on an amber alert-like system for missing and murdered Indigenous women started earlier in the week.
It is called the Red Dress Alert System, and it was endorsed earlier in the year.
“As we speak and over the last several years… we are still seeing many women and girls go missing,” Teegee said. “This initiative is very important.”
“Certainly there is a lot of frustration that it took this long to get started,” he added.
Teegee said he does not know when the government is aiming to bring the system online.