Two weeks until election day for Lax Kw'alaams members

Residents of Lax Kwa'laams and members of the Lax Kw'alaams Band will be heading to the ballot box in two weeks, as the community north of Prince Rupert holds elections for a number of positions for office for the next four years.

Voters will have their choice of a full ballot for Mayor and Council, with eight candidates on the final list for Mayor, included among those seeking to take over the reins from incumbent John Helin, is former Mayor Garry Reece who is looking for the opportunity to return to the top office.

On the council side of the election there are thirty six candidates for the twelve available positions which will include a maximum of three off reserve spots.

The numbers are a little less overwhelming for the five positions for the Office of Trustee, with only eleven candidates seeking a place in the five spots available.

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When it comes to the actual voting of November 19th, both the Council and Mayoralty vote must be done by ballot box, with voters to have two locations to cast a ballot.

In Lax Kw'alaams the voting will take place at the Lax Kw'alaams Elders Lodge and in Prince Rupert members of the Band can vote at the Lax Kw'alaams Business Development Building which is across from Mariners Park and adjacent to the Prince Rupert Court House.

Voting will take place from 8 AM to 8 PM

The Counting of the votes will take place the next day, in the morning of November 20th

Voters do have the option to vote electronically for the Office of trustee positions, however the vote for Mayor and Council will not make use of the electronic option.

Learn more about the election process for Lax Kw'alaams here.

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Four years ago marked a bit of a political seismic shift for Lax Kw'alaams as John Helin topped former Mayor Reece and two other contenders for the top position in the community.

Mr. Helin held off the three other candidates with a total vote of 353 votes, former Mayor Reece actually came third at 274 votes at the time, with Gary Sampson Jr. taking the second place finish at 300, Bob Moraes collected 99 votes as the count came in.

How such a large pool of candidates may change the final tallies of November 19th will make for one of the many themes for election night; as well as the rather large number of Council candidates which could make for a shift in council positions on a range of issues once all the numbers come in.

Over the last four years, Mayor Helin's approach has been somewhat ambitious on themes of development with LNG and other options all in the mix, how those themes have resonated with Lax Kw'alaams residents may also make for some of the narrative for the election review of November 20th.

For more background on some of the items of note from Lax Kw'alaams see our archive page here.