(Image credit: Upper Nicola Band).

By Zachary Stewart-Q101

Upper Nicola Band Chief

Daniel Manuel elected new Upper Nicola Band Chief

Mar 23, 2023 | 9:23 AM

MERRITT, B.C. — Upper Nicola Band (UNB) has a new chief following election season.

Daniel Manuel received 196 out of the 295 eligible votes. In the two-person race for chief, Yvonne Ned received the remaining 99 votes.

“It’s a humbling experience to be selected by the community, to represent them,” Daniel Manuel, newly elected UNB chief says. “Having worked in the community for many years, I’m really humbled that the community would provide me with this opportunity.”

The new UNB council will be made up of nine members, who were all acclaimed.

• Brian Holmes (incumbent)
• Fred Holmes (incumbent)
• Dennis MacDonald (incumbent)
• Kevin Ned (incumbent)
• Kayla Boston
• Craig Shintah
• Eva Tom
• Ira Tom
• Jeremy Tom

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“We have a lot of good people. A good mix of incumbents and we have a few councillors that have served many terms, so we have a good mix,” Manuel says. “A good mix of new ideas with new people coming in and got representation of some of the younger folks through one of our councillors. We have representation of an important part of our community, the women of our community… I’m really excited to see to get to work with them and to continue to move forward in the community.”

Now that Manuel is chief, he says there is lots on the agenda to get done within the community, without forgetting about the pressing needs of the residents.

“We have been doing a lot of work over many years to advance the position of the community,” Manuel says. “My priorities are the priorities of the people, the priorities the people have set for us to work on. I will continue to advance those to the best of my abilities. There are all kinds of exciting initiatives that are underway for Upper Nicola. Return lots of work in economic development, I have been a key part of governance and traditional laws of practice around our jurisdiction and authority in government, as well as lots of work in health, so there’s all kinds of things we are looking at and I’m expecting to continue to support that work.”

Even though voter turnout was low throughout UNB, 295 people voted out of 824 eligible which is 36 per cent, Manuel wanted to express gratitude to all of those who did cast their ballot and to his family.

“I just want to thank all of those who supported me, who put their faith and trust in me. I want to acknowledge my family and the commitment they make in allowing me to do this work.”