Chiefs clean house during FSIN election

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Alphonse Bird, 41, of Montreal Lake First Nation, defeated incumbent Perry Bellegarde Oct. 16 to take over as the top man at the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN).

Bellegarde was going for his third straight term but Bird scored a first-ballot victory, collecting 442 votes to the incumbent's 323. Change was in the air on election day-the two other positions up for grabs also went to the challengers. The office holders in all three of the FSIN executive positions that were contested this year were turfed.

The FSIN staggers its vice-chief elections; the second and fourth vice-chief positions were not contested this year.

Along with Bellegarde, both first vice-chief Greg Ahenakew and third vice-chief Lindsay Cyr were shown the door by the voting delegates, although the vice-chief elections were closer and required two ballots. Ahenakew was defeated by former vice-chief Morley Watson who ran unsuccessfully against Bellegarde in the last election and sat out the last term. Former Thunderchild First Nation Chief Delbert Wapass replaces Cyr.

Bird came out of political retirement to run for the FSIN leadership. He had been working as the general manager at the Northern Lights Casino in Prince Albert. Elected grand chief of the Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) in 1993, he served two terms. Before that he was a PAGC vice-chief for a term.

His family is very active politically in Saskatchewan. His brother Richie is chief of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation. Roy Bird, another brother, is the regional director general of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the department's top bureaucratic position in the region. His father, Allan Bird, is a FSIN senator.

Alphonse Bird will also take over as the Saskatchewan vice-chief on the Assembly of First Nations' executive board.