Roberta Joseph new chief of Dawson's Trondek Hwechin

The Tr'ondek Hwech'in in Dawson City, Yukon, have a new chief.

Roberta Joseph was elected to the position after a vote recount yesterday, which found she won by just five votes.

Joseph says it still doesn't feel real, but she's already set concrete goals.

Housing is one of the biggest, and I think that developing a long term capital and infrastructure plan would be good for our First Nation, Joseph says. So that's something I would work towards as well trying to address the immediate concerns."

Joseph says she will continue the work of the previous council to protect the Peel watershed against development.

The First Nation also elected three new council members yesterday, a fourth was re-elected.

The councillorsare:Ryan Peterson,Darren T. Bullen,Simon Nagano andSelina Procee.

The Trondk Hwchin are a Yukon First Nation based in Dawson City. The citizenship of roughly 1,100 includes descendants of the Hn-speaking people, who have lived along the Yukon River for millennia, and a diverse mix of families descended from Gwichin, Northern Tutchone and other language groups.

TheTrondekHwechincompleted a land claim agreement in 1998.

The First Nation is one of twoalongside theNa-cho Nyak Dun First Nation currently battling the Yukon government over its Peel watershed land use plan, which it says violates the land claims signed with First Nations.