Tuesday evening after school Sam and I were asked to help officiate the Arctic Village elections for Village Chief, Second Chief and Council Members. As non-Tribal members we are not eligible to vote and we are considered to be non-biased. We walked over to the community hall at 4:15 when we were told the elections would begin and we were some of the first people there. After the village administrator got on the radio and made some announcements other people began to show up and by 5pm the election process began.
The first order of business was to vote on an election policy and the terms of office for Chief and Council. Apparently terms had been drafted at an earlier meeting, but they still needed to be voted upon. There was some lively discussion regarding who can run, how long the term of office should be and wether of not the people who run can hold paid positions within the tribal council as well as being on the village council. Sam and I sat back and watched this grassroots democratic process that was like no other we have ever witnessed. Many people got up and spoke. Two elders told stories to make their points. One story was a vivid description of racing down a mountain in a toboggan. Everyone starts out in the sled and things are going well until you hit a bump and someone gets launched from the sled, then you take a turn and lose a few more. Before reaching the bottom of the mountain, the few people left are holding on for dear life. This story was told complete with comments interjected in Gwich'in and dramatic motions to illustrate what was happening to each rider. In typical Native fashion, the moral of the story was not directly stated, but the implication was that the political process in the village always ends with everyone in a huge wreck at the bottom of the mountain and that there needs to be more rules and structure to help the process be more effective, ie - keeping everyone in the sled. It was a well made point and created lots of laughter.
The whole election process was a three hour event at the community hall. Dinner was provided as well as plenty of coffee and tea. Raffle prizes were given throughout the process to help keep enough voting members present throughout the evening for the election to be official. By the end of the evening a new Chief, Second Chief and 5 council members with two alternates had been elected, so it was a successful process. Pictured below is the new council and Chiefs.
Arctic Village Council and Chiefs for 2011
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