Tl’etinqox (Anaham) Chief Joe Alphonse is hoping to get re-elected for a fifth consecutive term in the upcoming band council election on Monday, Feb. 20.
“I think I can keep on the path of cleaning up the community financially and improving the general appearance of our community,” Alphonse told the Tribune.
The biggest challenge facing the community continues to be lowering the deficit, a task Alphonse said has been one of the hardest things to deal with in his entire life.
“When you aren’t on band council you don’t have access to the finances so you don’t know where the band is at,” he said. “It took longer than I would have wanted but I feel we are just about there and within the last term that we have finally been able to do some concrete planning.”
Under Alphonse’s leadership, however, several things have been accomplished.
The community has a new health centre and elementary school and is now working on projects for a new gas bar, upgraded water system, new firehall and fire truck.
Business plans for an irrigation system and community ranch are also in the works.
“They are big projects and it is a two or three year process to see them go through,” Alphonse said. “I want to stick around because we’ve got good momentum going.”
A youth leadership program is also underway with some exciting potential to help youth pursue higher education and a good life, Alphonse added.
“My goal has always been to establish ours as a role model community and I think we are getting there even though we’ve been under financial strains.”
The Tsilhqot’in rights and title win in the Supreme Court was “long overdue,” and will provide a path for a better future for his community and the entire Tsilhqot’in Nation, Alphonse said.
“It has really put us on the map because no one has ever been able to accomplish that,” he said. “There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but I look forward to the challenge. It took winning rights and title to get B.C. and the federal government to the table.”
Alphonse said there is a strong push in the community to make sure that people who are running for band council are living a clean and honest life.
“We had really good councils up until this term, but now we have had to cancel four meetings because we did not have quorum,” Alphonse said. “In the three previous terms, not once did we ever miss a meeting.”
Five other people are in the running for chief and include Chezzeray Alphonse, Ashton Cooper, Aggie Harry, Gerald Johnny and Fanny Stump.
“That’s actually a low number of people running for chief. We usually get 15 people running,” Alphonse said.
There are more than 70 people running for 12 councillor positions.