Eastman re-elected as Canupawakpa chief by one vote

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After a recount in an extremely tight race, Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation Chief Viola Eastman was re-elected in Thursday’s election.

The official results showed 81 votes for Eastman and 80 for her closest competitor, Franklin Brown.

“We checked every ballot, even the ones that were declared spoiled; it wouldn’t have affected the outcome,” electoral officer Burke Ratte said on Friday.

Excited to begin her second mandate as chief with councillors Gerald Sandy and Gabriel Sutherland, Eastman said she was thankful for the “nerve-racking” evening to be over.

“Personally, I just feel humbled and honoured to be given the opportunity again,” she said.

Eastman said she doesn’t think of her role as chief as a job, but rather as “a responsibility for my people; to be able to do good and make our people’s lives a little better, to give them a chance to, and an opportunity to support themselves.”

Eastman said her second mandate offers greater opportunity.

During her first mandate, the community’s financial status improved, and it received confirmation that it would no longer be under co-management with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.

Eastman’s key goal will be pursuing economic development opportunities and the construction of more housing.

Canupawakpa still has four families who have been out of their houses for more than a year as a result of flooding, she said.

“Our housing stock is old and they’re starting to fall apart, so we need to get more housing,” Eastman said.

Overall, she said, “I’m just eager to work.”

Brown is a past chief of Canupawakpa, who is perhaps best known outside the community for being one of five men charged in relation to the Dakota Chundee Smoke Shop a few years ago, which they described as being about more than cheap contraband cigarettes, but also the sovereignty and the economic aspirations of aboriginal people.

Brown stepped down as Canupawakpa chief in 2013, explaining that he wanted to live as a “private person with private rights” and not be recognized as “an Indian agent of the federal government.”

Ratte said Brown didn’t show up for his nomination meeting for Thursday’s election and did not contact him at any point during the election process.

Fellow candidate Marlene Demas placed third with 64 votes, followed by Delbert Cruise with 22 and Raymond Brown with three.

Of the 490 eligible voters, 250 cast votes in Thursday’s election.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

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