Last night at Long Plain Spirit Lodge, a Candidates Gathering was held with all eligible candidates running for office. A moderator was present and asked each candidate various questions related to running for office.
Questions varied in scope related to local, provincial and national levels and included topics such as housing, education, addiction, wage expectations, and their favourite things about politics, among other things.
There are four candidates running for the office of Chief. Current Chief Dennis Meeches outlines what his main focuses would be if he were re-elected.
“Working towards the Treaty One government,” says Meeches. “Maybe expanding the urban reserves, maybe one or two more. And of course the Treaty One Kapyong. The 150th anniversary is coming up, I really think Kapyong is a game-changer for Treaty One bands.”
David Meeches is also running for Chief and says his main goal would be to address the needs of the community in a community based way.
Yvette Prince is running for Chief for the first time. She says bringing power back to the people is her main priority.
“My vision is to bring the people together, and to create as many jobs as possible,” says Prince. She says she sees people suffering with unemployment or doing illegal activities for money, and she feels creating more jobs is key to helping alleviate these issues.
Chris YellowQuill is throwing is hat into the ring for Chief as well. He says safety in Long Plain is one of his major concerns.
“Some elders really have a great concern going to sleep at night,” says YellowQuill. “They don’t know if they’re going to get robbed or if their doors are going to be kicked in from a home invasion. We need to develop a more secure atmosphere here in the community.” He says one way to do that would be to install alarms and cameras on every house in Long Plain, which would alert authorities to problems right away.
Eligible candidates running for councillor were also there to answer questions. The Long Plain General Election will be held next week on April 12th.
Article courtesy of Portage Online, Renée Lilley
