Alphonse Bird Elected as FSIN Chief

Alphonse Bird Elected as FSIN Chief

Thursday, October 16, 2003 at 13:57

There is a new man in charge at the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

Former Prince Albert Grand Council chief Alphonse Bird has defeated incumbent Perry Bellegarde at today’s FSIN elections in Saskatoon.

With 442 votes, Bird captured the majority of ballots cast. Bellegarde finished second with 323 votes, while challenger Wes George was a distant 3rd with 24 votes.

Meantime, it looks like the incumbents in today’s vice chief elections also won’t be back.

At last word, both those votes were headed to a second ballot.

In the first ballot, incumbent 1st vice chief Greg Ahenakew finished with 253 votes, well behind former FSIN vice chief Morley Watson, who picked up 386 votes. Watson needed just 11 votes more to win that vote on the first ballot.

Meantime, Thunderchild’s Delbert Wapass appears to have replaced Lindsay Cyr as the FSIN’s 3rd vice chief. Wapass captured 394 votes on the first ballot, just 2 votes shy of a majority. Cyr finished second with 189 votes.