Guujaaw has won another term as president of the Council of the Haida Nation, easily defeating two other candidates in the election held Saturday (Nov. 22).
Chief electoral officer Pam Wilson said the total number of votes for each candidate won't be released until later this week, but said that Guujaaw won "by a landslide".
Arnie Bellis was elected vice-president in a much tighter race featuring a total of seven candidates.
"I feel good about getting elected," said Mr. Bellis, who has served as vice-president in previous years.
Mr. Bellis said he expects to be working very hard for the next two years. A particular interest, he said, is finding better ways of getting everyone's opinion heard and improving communication.
Another issue is the protocol agreement, a document which the CHN asked the non-Haida communities almost two years ago to sign in the interests of co-existence and cooperation. Mr. Bellis said he applauds the village of Port Clements' recent initiative in getting the non-Haida communities together to discuss signing the agreement.
"We've always maintained we're willing to co-exist," he said. "If there are questions or concerns, come forward and ask us... I don't think that being afraid of something should be a motivation. The motivation should be to find some common ground."
Mr. Bellis thanked the voters, and the other candidates for putting their names forward.
Also elected were Vince Collison, Lawrence Jones, Elsie Stewart-Burton and Andrew Williams as Old Massett region reps; Cindy Boyko, Irene Mills, Gary Russ and Richard Wilson (Capt. Gold) as Skidegate region reps; and Derek Edenshaw and Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas as Vancouver region reps.
Bill White and Pansy Collison have already been acclaimed as the Prince Rupert region reps.