Doris Bill re-elected chief of Kwanlin Dn First Nation

In an election marked with enhanced safety precautions due to COVID-19, Doris Bill has been re-elected to a third term as chief of the Kwanlin Dn First Nation.

Bill received 235 votes for chief, over 70 more than her closest rival, Sean Smith. Ian Kuster finished in third place with 26 votes.

On Thursday morning, Bill said she's "very tired, but pleased with the outcome."

"I think from what I heard from a lot of people, there's been a lot of progress over the two terms that I've been in office," she said."We work hard, and I think people want to continue on with that movement."

Sixteen candidates sought six council positions in Wednesday's election, with Rosemary Waugh-Wilson, Charlene Charlie, Jessie Dawson, Jess Ryder, Raymond Sydney, and Charles Joseph Chief being elected.

Just three councillors Dawson, Sydney, and Chief were re-elected, with three new faces joining them.

"We're going to have to get to know one another," said Bill of her new team."It's a huge learning curve ...I hope that we can build a good strong relationship and a good strong team together and move forward from here."

We need to first get over this crisis before we move forward.- Doris Bill, Re-elected chief

However, chief returning officer Norman Eady saidan automatic recount is triggered if two candidates are within four votes of each other. Chief, with 170 votes, was just threevotes ahead of the seventh-place finisher, Howard MacIntosh,and therefore a recount will take place Thursday at noon.

The election proceeded as scheduled despite the COVID-19 pandemic, with officials taking extra precautions including spacing polling booths further apart, controlling the size of the group present, and cleaning polling booths after each use.

Bill said that her new council team will likely meet by teleconference for now, and that their immediate focus will turn to responding to the pandemic.

"We will be offering essential services only, we've started to wind down," she said."We need to protect our citizens and we need to protect our staff.

"During this election, it's been a huge, huge challenge trying to deal with that ... But we got through it ...and we need to first get over this crisis before we move forward."

Full results from the election are below:

Chief

• Doris Bill (elected) 235
• Sean Smith 162
• Ian Kuster 26

Council

• Rosemary Waugh-Wilson (elected) 202
• Charlene Charlie (elected) 192
• Jessie Dawson (elected) 190
• Jess Ryder (elected) 187
• Raymond Sydney (elected) 187
• Charles Joseph Chief (elected) 170
• Howard MacIntosh 167
• Mike Stanley 145
• Alicia Vance 128
• Allan Taylor 126
• William F. Carlick 94
• Edith Baker 92
• Ray Webb 85
• Amanda Calbery 74
• Teresa Lynn Ward 64
• Elaine Smarch 58