The Simpcw First Nation is carrying on with their current elected leader.
With the official results tallied for the Simpcw First Nation election for chief on April 14, the voting resulted in current Kukpi7 (chief), George Thomas Lampreau being re-elected.
This was formally recognized by the electoral officer, Marcus Hadley from Victoria, B.C.
The three nominees for the Kukpi7 position were: Lampreau, Larry Lampreau and former Kukpi7 Shelly Ann Loring.
The current term that Kukpi7 Lampreau is serving carries through until the end of May which allows for voting to take place on May 12 for the new council and some transition time, said Lampreau.
The chief is looking forward to continuing to serve the members of Simpcw First Nation saying, “I’m looking forward to working with the new council once that council election takes place and seeing how we can plan together to move things forward for our members.”
Online voting for the Simpcw First Nation Council election begins April 29 and the in-person voting will take place in the Village of Chu Chua on May 12.
When talking with Black Press on Friday, April 19, Lampreau mentioned a number of key events and projects coming up, saying, “There will be a value-added community forest tour coming up at the end of April through the North Thompson, then on to Valemount and McBride in Simpcw territory. I like hearing about some of the innovative things each area is doing with regards to community forest initiatives. We’d like to try to change the landscape of logging and start looking at things like leaving deciduous trees as many communities are replanting them for FireSmarting.”
Lampreau’s previous objective of signing agreements with the Highway 5 corridor partners remains a steadfast goal, having signed the first of those with Valemount during the recent Community To Community Forum hosted by the District of Clearwater on March 6.
“We would like to attend each community and honour each area with some drumming, singing and possibly a dinner to get people out to meet and greet Simpcw leadership and to talk with us about who we are, and what we are doing as part of our ‘good neighbour’ focus,” he said.
Kukpi7 Lampreau mentioned having a “good conversation with Chief Dolleen Logan from Lheidli T’enneh First Nation in Prince George” recently, regarding settling on the boundary in the Robson territory and how they will begin to work together while “continuing to grow the relationship” between Simpcw First Nation and the Lheidli T’enneh referring to the discussion as a “positive outcome together.”
“For the first part of this new term I would like to focus on community, our members, our office and getting our policies updated while improving upon our own infrastructure,” says Lampreau, adding, “I’d like to make the improvements that I am hearing from members about what is needed internally while treating our employees as real assets.”
The chief shared he would also like to continue to build on the mentorship programs they have with Simpcw Resources Group (SRG) describing his desire to uncover what is “holding the few of our members back” to assist them in finding jobs and “where they want to be” by really building community capacity while supporting members through positive reinforcement.
Lampreau told Black Press that once Memoranda Of Understanding are signed with Barriere, Clearwater, and McBride (now that Valemount has signed) he would like to make a formal announcement of these working partnerships possibly at Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in September of this year to “show the other municipalities and First Nations what is possible by being good neighbours and working together.”
He says, “By our examples of partnering, when it comes to these Land Act amendments, we can show that we are a untied voice as good neighbours and we are not looking for veto powers, but that we want to be involved, to have a say and include everyone, not just us. That is part of our good neighbour policy. We want to make things better in the valley, more sustainable for the future for everyone.”
Lampreau says Simpcw is continuing to work with the contractors in the valley through dialogue to discuss ways of attracting new business and with that, employment opportunities for everyone in the valley.