Westbank First Nation Chief Robert Louie.
(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)
September 16, 2022 - 8:45 AM
Former Westbank First Nation chief Robert Louie has been reelected.
Louie, who lost out in 2016, is the Band's chief again. He won with 258 votes, beating out Roxanne Lindley by 131 votes, according to a news release from the First Nation.
Louie previously held office for 24 years, and he owns Indigenous World Winery and Kelowna West Manufacturing Home Park, among other business ventures, according to the release.
Lindley beat Louie in the 2016 election, following the Band's failed and controversial effort to build the Lake Okanagan Wellness Centre private hospital.
Louie will serve alongside four councillors for the three-year term. Andrea Alexander and Jordan Coble return with newly elected councillors Angie Derrickson and Sara Tronson.
Out of 701 eligible voters, there were 391 votes cast and five ballots rejected in this 2022 election, according to the news release.
Louie is replacing the Band's previous chief Christopher Derickson, who resigned in June.
Derickson resigned over issues of “competency, integrity and moral courage within the WFN council and the departure of our principled CAO,” he said at the time. That issue was over the sale of land in Peachland in 2021.
The new chief and council will officially be sworn in at an Oath of Office meeting on Sept. 20.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2022