Odelle Pike is ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work with the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band Council, especially on an issue like communications.
She was named winner in the Stephenville ward in the Qalipu election on Tuesday.
“This feels pretty good. It was a long night,” she said.
Pike said while it will be a month or so before the new council is sworn in, she still looking forward to getting down to work.
She said enrollment will be a big part of the agenda for the next few months and probably many more months after that.
“I want to improve on communications in the ward and on council itself. There’s always room for improvement,” Pike said.
She said people need to feel part of the band.
“I don’t think it’s there and we need to work on that in all the wards,” Pike said.
She has no issue with serving on council with Chief Brendan Mitchell, who was returned to his seat in Tuesday’s election. She believes they are going to have an awesome band council.
Pike wished the other candidates for Stephenville, Gerald (Joe) White and Stefan Young, luck in their future endeavours.
She said she would support Stephenville seeking an urban reserve and that anything to get the economy going would be a good thing.
Pike said she has being doing a lot of work in the ward, including volunteering full time at the People of the Dawn Friendship Centre, so this will be an extension of that with a voice at the table.
She ran for chief in the first Qalipu Band election but lost out to Brendan Sheppard at the time.
