Young dynamo will chart ambitious course as chief of Birdtail Sioux

Opinion

At the 2022 Manitoba Indigenous Youth Achievement Awards, a 22-year-old woman from Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation won in the community volunteer category for organizing a “Reconciliation Run” that honours the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The most memorable part wasn’t that she had won it, it was her speech.

“In three years I am going to run for chief of my community,” Tréchelle Bunn announced to applause. “And, I’m going to win.”

Late Thursday night, the now-25-year-old was elected as the first female chief in the First Nation’s history and one of the youngest chiefs in North America.

Bunn defeated local health leader Gloria Chalmers-Rach and takes over from chief Lindsay Bunn Jr. to lead the community, which is about 100 kilometres northwest of Brandon.

She will guide the community’s five-member council; all of whom are two to three times her age.

Bunn’s had a good week.

The same day she was elected chief, she was recognized in the “youth” category during the Indspire Awards (formerly known as a National Aboriginal Achievement Awards) for her work as Youth Chief of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization.

She’s also been working on her law degree at the University of Manitoba Robson Law School, where she is vice-president of the Indigenous Law Students’ Association and volunteers at the Manitoba Prison Law Clinic.

Prior to that, she was a star hockey player in the United States who eventually suited up for the University of Manitoba Bisons.

Now, Bunn will pause her plans to become a lawyer and start passing laws.

She’s got her work cut out for her.

Birdtail Sioux is like many First Nations, with power swinging back and forth between two families: the Chalmers and the Bunns. A person from one of those families has run the community for nearly three decades.

In other words, family loyalties run deep.

Former chief Ken Chalmers, who has been elected and re-elected three times since 2003 (with multiple Bunns in-between) has shepherded the community into controversial partnerships with oil and rail companies.

Money from these projects has created some local development — including a health centre, shopping centre, and new homes — but led to multiple referendums that have split the community.

With an approximate population of around 650 members, every person is passionately involved in community politics.

Like other First Nations, the legacy of residential schools have deeply impacted local citizens.

Twenty-five miles north lies the Birtle Residential School, a place well-known for it’s brutal treatment of students. In the community stands a healing garden to honour the experiences of survivors.

With trauma comes intergenerational impacts.

There is known presence of gangs and drugs in the community and, with this, violence. This has bled into politics, with former chiefs Chalmers and Lindsay Bunn Jr. being assaulted in the community (the latter just a month ago).

Birdtail Sioux runs its own police force under the First Nations Police Service but needs many more resources and support.

The former band government has been accused of misusing funds and not being transparent in meetings. Multiple investigations and lawsuits have been launched (the last one a few weeks ago) into alleged misuse of funds by employees and councillors.

The community’s new young chief, however, promises accountability, transparency, and new investments in education and youth.

She’s also promising, according to her election promises, “unity” and a “fresh start.”

She may be coming at just the right time.

There is a revolution happening for Dakota and Lakota — often misnamed “Assiniboine” — nations in Manitoba.

Last year, the federal government apologized to nine Dakota and Nakota nations for historically recognizing them as refugees, a label that resulted in the denial of their Indigenous and treaty rights.

Since the apology, communities like Dakota Tipi First Nation and Canupawakpa Dakota Nation have quickly moved to rectify their lost rights, including suing to get back lands in places like The Forks in Winnipeg.

There is new pride in the community as a result.

Five months ago a herd of bison were obtained by Birdtail from nearby Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, returning the animals to their traditional land after a century of absence.

I know Tréchelle Bunn. She is my former student at the University of Manitoba.

If there’s one thing I know, it is that nothing stops her tenacity, kindness, and love of people — all people.

On the night she received the Indigenous youth achievement award, I found Birdtail Sioux’s future chief cleaning tables and folding chairs, long after most had left.

To be honest, I became convinced she would become chief then, despite her age.

I know she will do well.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca