1st female chief of Teslin Tlingit Council in Yukon looks to move forward in 'unity'

The Teslin Tlingit Council in the Yukon has elected a female chief for the first time ever — though it's not the first time Elizabeth Bosely has won the vote there.

An election was originally held in the community last September and Bosely won the most votes. That election, however, was later deemed invalid after an appeal and subsequent investigation found problems with some mail-in ballots.

Bosely ran again, and won again, though she won't be sworn in until Monday after a five-day appeal period is over and a recount complete.

Bosely spoke to the CBC's Midday Café host Leonard Linklater this past week about her win, and her priorities for the coming term.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How does it feel to be the first female Naa Sháade Háni of the Teslin Tlingit Council?

I don't think I've fully absorbed it yet. I feel deeply honoured. I'm so happy that, you know, for the second time the people have elected me as their Naa Sháade Háni. I feel deeply honoured and privileged to have had the support of the citizens, and I really think it's a historical moment for the Teslin people.

Have you got an agenda that you're hoping to accomplish, certain goals?

Already this morning, I met with the deputy chief, Tod Smarch. He was acclaimed. So Tod and I met and I think really we're very aligned in moving forward to do a lot of team-building, to really move forward on building capacity — I think working towards unity, building a really strong executive team, having a well-informed, knowledgeable general council in moving forward, and always being really mindful that, you know, our positions are in servitude to the citizens of Teslin Tlingit Council. 

I also want to make sure that we are building programs and services for our off-settlement land people. We have two-thirds of our off-settlement land citizens living outside of Teslin.

When we are sworn in, there is a 30-day transition period and so definitely it's important for us to touch base with [outgoing] Chief Eric Morris, the previous executive, and just making sure that there's a good smooth transition period happening there.

Because there are a lot of priority items on the table, one being our community services building, the strategic plan — so there's a lot of work ahead of us, for sure. Once that swearing in ceremony happens, we'll definitely be hitting the ground running.

And when you have plans like this, it's important to have a good team. And that was the first thing you mentioned was unity and building unity. Why is that so important?

You know, given what's happening in the world today, it really does, I think, affect us. Not to get too global, but you know, there's many things that have happened, when you look back at the beginning with the pandemic, and the isolation that happened, and moving on to the war in Russia and what's happening with Ukraine, you know, Gaza, with Palestine and Israel. And then you know, most recently the election in the United States, and the Trump tariffs, and that 30-day suspension. Not to mention, you know, the resignation of our current prime minister. You know, all of those things have a trickle-down effect, and they've affected us.

In looking forward into the future, I think it's so important for our First Nation to really, I think, be a little insular for a while and to really pay attention to what's happening in our backyard, to really make sure that we have a good strong government in place, that we're that we are really truly upholding each other.

One of our foundational documents is the Haa Kusteeyi, the Tlingit way. There's so many virtues and values and respect built into that foundational document that really, if we follow that document to the T, we should really be moving forward in unity and really taking care of each other. 

Moving into this position, I really, truly want to uphold the elders council. A lot of our elders are getting up in age and stuff, and there's so much wisdom and guidance that they have to offer us. And then on the other end of the spectrum, we have our youth, and our youth are out there getting educated. Some of them, you know, may not be on the right path.

But I think really when you look at both ends of those spectrums and everything in between, it's just so critical at this point in time in our history, for me as Naa Sháade Háni to move forward and really unify our people so that we're one voice, we support each other.