Albert Gerow, the husband of NDP leader Carole James, is the new chief of the small Burns Lake Indian Band, also known as the Ts'il Kaz Koh First Nation.
Gerow, who previously held positions on Burns Lake village council and as a public school board trustee, was making his first foray into First Nations politics. He beat out incumbent Robert Charlie for the chief's position, receiving 32 votes to Charlie's 17, in an election held last Friday.
The Burns Lake Indian Band, located on four reserves about 225 kilometres west of Prince George, has about 100 members.
Gerow, who has a background in human resources, said he hopes to help individuals in his community where he can, as well as working on economic development opportunities that could benefit not only the First Nations community, but the community as a whole.
Gerow said he will also be learning from elders, and looking forward to working with band councillors Wesley Sam, an incumbent, and newcomer Dan George, who were also elected on Friday to two-year terms.
Gerow, who had been living in Victoria with James, said it will be a difficult to keep up a long-distance relationship but they will try to see each other as much as they can. "This is a big sacrifice that Carol and I are making, but we want to make this work," said Gerow. "We both believe it's important to try to better our communities," he said.
One issue which the new chief will have to tackle is the proposed $5.5-billion Enbridge oil pipeline.
The 1,170-km pipeline from Edmonton to Kitimat, which will pass just north of Prince George, is meant to open a new market for Alberta oil sands crude in Asia.
Calgary-based Enbridge's Northern Gateway project from Edmonton to Kitimat is just beginning a two-year review by a three-person federal panel.
The Burns Lake Indian Band is among First Nations that have signed a protocol agreement with Enbridge. There are other First Nations along the route vehemently opposed to the project. Charlie, the former Burns Lake band chief, had said that while he respected other First Nation's concerns over the pipeline project, the community can't let business opportunities slip by.
Gerow, who was only on his second day in office on Tuesday, said he is not completely up to speed on the pipeline project, and will need to gather more information from the community.
He noted that during the campaign, the community didn't appear too excited about the project.
Gerow, who had attended an Enbridge information meeting several weeks ago, observed that while a lot of work would be created during construction, the promise of 165 permanent jobs was "not much."
Gerow said he also hoped to bring his experience at Babine Forest Products to examine the pipeline project. Gerow was an assistant human resources manager at Babine, but was also an environmental co-ordinator while the sawmill received its ISO 14001 certification, an environmental management standard. Gerow has his lead auditor certificate for ISO 14001 environmental management.
