It was a longer voting process than expected, but a National Chief for the Assembly of First Nations has been chosen. Manitoba regional chief Cindy Woodhouse is now the AFN’s national chief. Voting ended Wednesday night after six rounds with Woodhouse receiving 50.8 per cent of the registered vote, but you need 60 per cent. In second spot was vice-chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations David Pratt. He had 39.9 per cent of the vote and he conceded before the seventh round of voting this morning (Thurs).

National Chief Woodhouse looks forward to working alongside the AFN Executive Committee on advancing priorities in each region across the country. She says, “My first job is to bring united to the Assembly of First Nations and First Nations from coast to coast to coast. We have to be unified.”

The election was called to replace former national chief RoseAnne Archibald. She was originally suspended in June of 2022 after bullying and harassment allegations and then re-instated the next month. However, an independent investigation concluded Archibald breached the AFN’s harassment policy, whistleblower policy and code of conduct and she was ousted with a non-confidence vote.