After a tight race, Tommy Kakfwi was elected chief of Fort Good Hope.
The certified results state Kakfwi earned 85 votes, defeating incumbent Chief Daniel Masuzumi who received 83 votes.
“It’s the Elders, the Elders that wanted change,” Kakfwi said after news that he had won.
However, he credited the previous leadership for its handling of the pandemic, which he said is the biggest threat facing the community.
“We live in a bubble here, which has prevented us from any contact with COVID-19 here in the community,” he said. “The leadership was responsible for that, I have to congratulate them on keeping us protected.”
Kakfwi is a fluent speaker of North Slavey and says he hopes to establish more programs for younger people to learn the language.
“The issue of language is something that is there and needs to be worked on, and it’s going to take a whole community,” he said. “You’ve got to start somewhere and the whole community can get together and revitalize the local dialect.”
Going forward, Kakfwi says he will be reaching out to all members of the community to address issues facing them.
“We can fix all of these things as a community, as a whole,” he concluded.
The band council also had its results certified on Tuesday.
Angela Chinna, Jonas Chinna, Paul Dixon, Lucy Jackson, Floyd Kakfwi, Beverly Masuzumi, Rose McNeely, Collin Pierrot and Joseph Tobac were all elected.
