RoseAnne Archibald has been elected as the first female National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations after a whirlwind election.
She beat out Reginald BelleRose, who decided against heading into a sixth ballot. Archibald secured 50.3 per cent of the vote, beating BelleRose by 61 votes, 205 to 141 — but below the 60 per cent threshold needed to be declared the winner.
This was the second day of voting, after the pair could not be separated after the first three ballots. Seven candidates had been initially running.
Archibald is from the Taykwa Tagamou Nation in northern Ontario, northeast of Timmins and recently served for three years as the Ontario Regional Chief for the Assembly of First Nations.
The Assembly of the First Nations is a national organization that represents 634 First Nations, where more than 900,000 people are members. Twenty one Indigenous bands in the NWT are members of the organization.
