Tommy Kakfwi is the new chief of the Fort Good Hope after defeating incumbent Daniel Masuzumi by two votes.
The election took place on Monday. The results, first reported by the CBC and CKLB, gave Kakfwi 85 of the 168 valid ballots cast. Masuzumi received 83.
Kakfwi will act as both chief and mayor according to Fort Good Hope’s community charter. He will be sworn in on Wednesday next week.
He had previously served as a councillor for six months.
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Kakfwi told Cabin Radio he was encouraged to run by Elders in the community. His first order of business will be to call a public meeting to learn what the community’s concerns are and what they would like to see prioritized.
“I need everybody’s ideas to generate constructive ways of dealing with those issues,” he said.
While he hopes to serve the entire community, Kakfwi added he wants to put an emphasis on the youth.
“It’s a whole cross-section of people that I want to make active with on-the-land programs and programs in the community,” he said. “There are a lot of issues that need to be dealt with, but we will take it one at a time and try to deal with it as much and as quickly as possible.”
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Nine councillors were elected on Monday, with 12 people having run for the positions.
Paul Dixon kept his spot on council, while Charles McNeely lost his.
There are eight new councillors in Fort Good Hope: Angela Chinna, Jonas Chinna, Lucy Jackson, Floyd Kakfwi, Beverly Masuzumi, Rose McNeely, Collin Pierrot, and Joseph Tobac.
