Anishinabek Nation elects new Grand Council chief

NEWS RELEASE

ANISHINABEK NATION

*************************** Anishinabek Nation elects a new Grand Council Chief

AAMJIWNAANG FIRST NATION - (June 9) - Patrick Madahbee and Glen Hare are the new leaders of the Anishinabek Nation.

"My focus for the Anishinabek Nation is going to be on a rights-based agenda," says Grand Council Chief Madahbee, Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation.

Madahbee served as Grand Council Chief in 1980 when he was 27 years old - the youngest Grand Council Chief ever elected in the Anishinabek Nation.

This is a second term for Deputy Grand Council Chief Glen Hare, M'Chigeeng First Nation.

Chiefs and representatives from 42 communities were eligible to vote in a traditional stand-up election in which supporters lined up behind the candidates of their choice.

The Anishinabek Nation established the Union of Ontario Indians as its political advocate and secretariat in 1949.

The Union of Ontario Indians is the oldest political organization in Ontario and can trace its roots back to the Confederacy of Three Fires that have existed long before European contact.

***************************