George Mackenzie elected new Dene national chief

George Mackenzie, a former two-term Tłı̨chǫ grand chief, defeated Gerry Cheezie in a run-off on Thursday evening to become the next Dene national chief.

A third round of voting was needed after Mackenzie fell two votes short of a majority in the second round, which eliminated April Martel.

Mackenzie ultimately defeated Cheezie, a former chief of the Smith’s Landing First Nation, by 136 votes to 100.

In-person ballots were split 82-64 in Mackenzie’s favour. The online vote was 54-36 for Mackenzie.

Incumbent Gerald Antoine, Paulie Chinna and former national chief Norman Yak’eula were eliminated in an opening round of voting that began at noon.

Returning officer Kit Spence said the first round of voting gave Mackenzie 88 votes, Cheezie 45, Martel 39, Antoine 29, Chinna 20 and Yak’eula 12.

Mackenzie, Cheezie and Martel continued to a second round, during which a verbal count in the room suggested Mackenzie was just short of the 123 votes required to win the contest outright in that round.

Organizers said other candidates had rejected the suggestion of voting on a motion to declare Mackenzie the winner at that point, which would have set aside election rules agreed by delegates the day before.

Shortly before 7pm, the vote proceeded to a third and final round featuring Mackenzie and Cheezie. The results were delivered just after 9:30pm.

“I don’t have all the answers, but the answers are around the table here,” newly elected Mackenzie told the Dene National Assembly in Dettah.

“One of the reasons I ran for election is bringing back the respect to the Elders. The Elders have been pushed aside, and that’s our why our Nation was getting weak,” he said.

Mackenzie said Cheezie had sometimes been “like a big brother to me” when the two were growing up together. “The hard part was running against him,” he added, paying tribute to all of the candidates.

“I will definitely stand behind him and support him,” Cheezie said of Mackenzie, calling on the Dene Nation to focus on protection of the water, particularly given this year’s extraordinarily low water levels and the threat of contamination from Alberta’s oil sands.

“Make the Dene Nation communicate with you,” Cheezie told the assembled chiefs. “Make the Dene Nation the platform on which we can all gather together.”

What the candidates said

Earlier, the six candidates who began the day running for Dene national chief shared their priorities and visions for leading the organization if elected.

The six drew numbers from a hat to determine the order in which they would speak.

Each was given 10 minutes for opening remarks, after which they took a range of questions from chiefs. Topics included land claim agreements, sovereignty, water and the drug crisis.

The assembly is set to conclude on Friday. You can follow it live on the Dene Nation’s Facebook page or CKLB.

Here’s a summary of what each candidate said during their opening remarks at the forum.

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Norman Yak’eula

Yak’eula was formerly the Dene national chief from 2018 to 2021. He has also previously served as chief of the Tulita Dene Band, chair of the Sahtu Tribal Council and MLA for the Sahtu region.

Yak’eula spoke about growing up in Tulita and being sent to Grollier Hall residential school in Inuvik as a child.

“I want to say this because my story is your story,” he said, highlighting the importance of forgiveness in his healing journey.

Yak’eula also spoke about the importance of speaking to Elders as a leader and said he saw injustice in communities related to housing and education while serving as an MLA.

“We’ve got to put the Government of the Northwest Territories on notice, you’re no longer going to be around once we get our act together as a nation,” he said. “There is power around the table.”

Yak’eula also spoke about the importance of the land, water and animals as well as the Dene values of caring for each other, sharing and respecting one another.

Yak’eula said as national chief he wants to help build the Dene Nation and make it strong.

“I wear the Dene Nation crest flag because I believe in my people,” he said.

April Martel

Martel has been Chief of Kátł’odeeche First Nation since 2018.

She said she is running for national chief because she wants to advocate for Elders, youth, family, people with disabilities and missing and murdered Indigenous men, women and girls.

Martel said she wants to bring Elders and youth to the table.

“We need that knowledge, we need that history,” she said.

“The Elders are the ones and the youth that will pave the way for our Denendeh people.”

Martel said if elected, she will improve communication, education, housing and infrastructure, and advocate for greater access to Jordan’s Principle funding.

“We need to build houses in our community,” she said. “The federal government has a fiduciary duty and they need to give us funding to access for housing and infrastructure for our communities.”

Martel said she also wants to improve victim services and the justice system, remove drugs and drug dealers from communities, and address addiction through health and wellness programs.

“We need to advocate for our men and bring them back on the land,” she said. “We need to lift our men up and become powerful again.”

Martel highlighted her emergency management experience during evacuations of the Kátł’odeeche First Nation. She said she plans to improve emergency management policies to ensure better federal supports for communities.

She said she wants Dene history and knowledge to be archived and for it to be shared to educate students.

Paulie Chinna

Chinna was the MLA for the Sahtu during the 19th Legislative Assembly where she primarily served as the minister responsible for housing.

“Sometimes I felt that I was sitting on the wrong side of the table,” she said.

As an MLA, Chinna said she went into communities to address issues on the ground such as poverty and drug dealers.

“It shows my commitment,” she said. “That is where my heart is, to work with the Indigenous people throughout the Northwest Territories.”

Chinna said her priorities if elected will be mental health, addictions, education, infrastructure and land claims.

“My relationships have already been established,” she said. “My priority is Denendeh. I want to be more present within the communities, I want to be supporting the chiefs, I want to hear what it is that needs to be done throughout the Northwest Territories and not just holding the GNWT responsible for making decisions on our behalf.”

Chinna said she wants to see Indigenous governments have more control over services and communities. She called on the Dene Nation to come up with a mission statement, core values and priorities.

“If I’m elected, I want to get to work Friday morning,” she said.

Gerald Antoine

Antoine is the incumbent candidate having been elected in 2021. He has previously served as chief of the Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation.

Antoine said he was born and raised in Rabbitskin with the Dene way of life as his foundation.

“I also experienced, like all of you, going to administrative centres, day schools, residential schools and also foster homes and I can relate to those experiences,” he said.

Antoine gave an emotional speech, talking about the formation of the Dene Nation, originally called the Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories, and how it has grown.

“This is our collective, important, key foundation which needs to be the very root that we need to grow with,” he said.

Antoine highlighted the importance of family, communities, the relationship with the land and treaties. He said there is a need for focus groups on forest management, water, youth development, and family and community development.

Gerry Cheezie

Cheezie chairs the NWT health authority’s leadership council. He said he has the education, experience and determination to be national chief.

“To me, this is my government. The people sitting around this table are my government,” he said. “The NWT across the bay over there in their big fancy building, that’s not my government and they’re not your government.”

Cheezie said very little of the territorial government’s $2.2-billion budget goes to communities and a small percentage of the public service is Indigenous, particularly higher management positions.

“Why are we, the owners of the land, beggars in our homelands? It should be in the reverse.”

He raised concerns with water issues and education, saying he wants a legal opinion on launching a class-action lawsuit against the territorial government.

George Mackenzie

Mackenzie spoke about the history of the Dene Nation and leaders speaking with one voice for hunting, fishing and trapping rights, and against the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.

Mackenzie also spoke about the current issues of climate change, housing and addictions, and highlighted the importance of education, training, employment and culture.

He called for Dene chiefs to come up with a national strategy to address those challenges. He said he wants to travel to small communities and hold meetings in communities during hand games tournaments, which draw crowds.

“I have one foot deep in the snow, as they say, another foot deep in … education, as they say. You put two together, what do you have? You’re looking at me,” he said.