Claire Sault to be sworn in Friday as new elected chief of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation | CBC News
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Claire Sault “wasn’t even going to run” but the businessperson and former councillor has been elected as the new gimaa (chief) of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN).
Following a close election win on Dec. 9, Sault is expected to be sworn in Friday and says she’s ready to lead.
“Creating more consensus is, above all else, the most important,” Sault told CBC Hamilton this week.
One of her priorities, she said, is pausing the plan for a new constitution for the First Nation, saying she wants more consultation before moving ahead with a document that will have long-term effects on the community.
Outgoing elected chief Stacey Laforme had proposed a new constitution that would allow MCFN to “make decisions together that will eventually lead us to taking steps away from the limitations of the Indian Act,” according to a statement earlier this year.
Election results
MCFN has a reserve near Hagersville, Ont., about 38 kilometres southwest of Hamilton. It has roughly 2,570 members, with close to two thirds living off reserve, according to its website. The First Nation is part of the Anishinaabe Nation.
Of the nearly 500 ballots cast for chief last weekend, Sault received 220. The unofficial results on the MCFN website show runner-up Margaret Ann Sault received 211 votes and third-place candidate Karen Andrea King received 61.
The community has 2,161 voting members, and communications lead Georgia LaForme said that over 100 people who live off-reserve had voted by mail.
In addition to chief, constituents elected seven councillors:
- Erma Ferrell
- Veronica King-Jamieson
- Leslie Maracle
- Fawn D. Sault
- Larry Sault
- William “Bill” Rodger Laforme
- Jesse James Herkimer
Of those candidates, Ferrell, King-Jamieson and Fawn Sault were sitting incumbents. The previous council also consisted of Andrea King, Ashley Sault and R. Kelly LaForme. Both Bill Rodger Laforme and Larry Sault have been councillors before.
Questions over constitution process inspired Sault
Sault joined the MCFN council during a byelection during the last term.
She has a background in business and as a councillor did a lot of work with the Mississaugas of the Credit Business Corporation, which manages a portfolio of business for the first nation.
She said the April ratification of the constitution is what made her want to run for office in the first place.
“It’s a document that’s going to guide our long-term future. So it’s not that people don’t want a constitution,” Sault said. “However, people are not happy with the formula that was used to pass it and they didn’t feel consulted.”
She decided to run for elected chief after meeting a local senior who invited her out for coffee, she said. As Sault tells it, there were several people who talked to her about their concerns with the constitution process, and asked her to run for gimaa.
She asked them for 30 days to think about it, then resolved to do so.
The new constitution was a key accomplishment for the outgoing gimaa, R. Stacey Laforme.
Laforme — known for his poetry, storytelling and as an outgoing, “relationship-builder” — was the elected chief for eight years, but announced his retirement from politics in the fall.
He previously told CBC Hamilton he would support Margaret Sault, the former councillor and chair of MCFN’s community trust who came second in the race. He also said building new relationships and maintaining existing relationships will be a challenge for the next chief.
“For me, it’s remembering we’re battling the systems, we’re not battling the people. We are in the sense they are representative of the systems, but it’s the systems that need to be fixed,” he said in October.
Gimaa R. Stacey Laforme offers words of wisdom to the next elected leader of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. He is retiring from politics after eight years as Gimaa.
Sault had positive words for Laforme.
“My hat’s off to the chief and Margaret Sault,” she said, noting that she thinks they did a lot of good work.
‘We’re open for business’
Given she won by nine votes, Sault said it’s clear the community is split on the constitution. She hopes to bridge existing divides.
“We need to get better at our unity,” and part of that means making sure people feel informed about what’s happening, Sault said. She’ll make sure to be open in her dealings, so people are able to see what the band council is working on, she added.
When it comes to dealing with communities outside the First Nation, “we’re open for business,” she said, adding that she’s willing to work with different nations, companies and governments.
MCFN’s website says its traditional territory spans from Long Point on Lake Erie eastward along the shore of the lake to the Niagara River and on to Lake Ontario, “then northward along the shore of the lake to the River Rouge east of Toronto, then up that river … to the head waters of the River Thames, then southward to Long Point, the place of the beginning.”
After her swearing in, Sault said she’s keen to talk to other councillors about the constitution before putting a moratorium on its adoption. She also said she’s eager to work on bringing more housing to the community, for which she says there is a “dire need.”
“I’m excited and passionate about what I committed to.”
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