With more votes than his 2 opponents combined, Perry Bellegarde is once again the chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

He received 488 votes from the various eligible voters -- a list limited to chiefs, councillors, headman, and delegates.

It will be Bellegarde's third go-round as the head of the organization.

He responds to the notion that the F-S-I-N has not had the best reputation over the past few years, "We say thank you to the FSIN for building institutions like the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology, that creates technical vocational trades programs for our people. We thank them for the First Nations University of Canada. We thank them for the Indian Cultural Centre. We thank them for establishing the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority which created 81 million dollars and 2 thousand jobs. So the FSIN has done good things."

But, Bellegarde says, he knows they'll also have some work ahead re-establishing the F-S-I-N's relevance, and building strength and unity back into the organization.

Kimberly Jonathan was elected as the first vice-chief. Third vice-chief Dutch Lerat won by acclamation. The office of the second vice-chief was not up for election today (thurs).

(pb oct 25/12)