Ahead of the Nov. 18 shíshálh Nation hehiwus (councillor) by-election, Coast Reporter caught up with each of the three candidates. The following is an edited version of a conversation with Warren Paull.
Age: 66
Contact: 604-885-8129
Introduce yourself. What is your experience or background?
I was the chief the previous two terms, I feel I still have something to offer and a lot of things that I want to finish. I was a junior council member when we did our push for self governance back in the 1980s. I was on the treaty process when we walked away from the treaty in the ‘90s. And we started the land use trust planning process when I was going to council back in 2007. So I think I brought it full circle. I've been doing this for 40 years.
Why are you running for election?
To finish what I started essentially. I started a lot of different initiatives. One of the ones that's rather local that I started in my term was the water initiative with a regional group.
If elected, what projects or priorities would you focus on for the next two years?
I know there’s still strategic planning that there has to be done. There’s 28 months left in the term and that's not a lot of time. So we really have to sit down and figure out what we can get across the line. One that is near and dear to my heart is the one I started back in Way back in 2020, which was the financial administration law.
What concerns have you heard from the public?
Housing. It's a constant refrain. We're on the right track. We started the process way back in the spring and it's ongoing. We're revamping our entire housing program. Part of that is data, we don't have key data that we need, like how many people are going to be turning 60, or what the income levels have been.
What do you wish we had asked, or what would you like to add?
shíshálh is the only self-governing First Nation in B.C. that has legislation and was the first to be recognized as a provincial municipality. We’re a federal municipality recognized by the UBCM and that works for us and against us in a lot of different ways.
One of the conversations we had with them was, how do we make sure that First Nations values and customs go into the government law. That's where we're going next.
Advanced polls will be held on Nov. 12, from 2 to 6 p.m. Election day will be Nov. 18, and votes can be cast from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. They will take place at the shíshálh Nation community hall. Also running in this election are Carol Louie and Randy Joe.
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
