Summary
Introduction of two-year electoral system for band council, where new chiefs in council were elected every two years, sometime in the 1940s. Previously, chiefs-in-council had remained for their lifetime. This system had been promised in the treaties, but in the 1940s or early 1950s Indian Agents decided that the system should change.
Implications
The two-year electoral system made it difficult to substantially enact economic and social change within communities. Elections every two years meant constantly changing elected officials and projects that would benefit communities long term were hard to complete within such a short period of time. Additionally, coordinating projects between bands proved difficult because 2 year terms started and ended on different days for different band councils. Since then, the band council election system has changed to an election every 4 years and a common election day.
Date
1940-00-00
Theme(s)