As the Qalipu First Nation election draws to a close, here's what hopeful candidates have to say

Members of Qalipu First Nation will elect a new chief on Friday, with three people putting their names forward seeking to run the Mi'kmaw band.

Qalipu is made up of 67 communities in Newfoundland and Labrador spread out over nine electoral wards. The Qalipu Nation says there are 22,331 eligible voters in this year's election. Voting is currently ongoing online and by phone, and will close at 8 p.m. NT on Friday.

The race for chief features three people: Jenny Brake — who has been acting chief since December — Laura White and Byron Alexander.

Ahead of the election deadline, the CBC's Colleen Connors spoke with Brake and White about what they hope to accomplish as chief and what they've been hearing from voters. CBC News also contacted Alexander, who didn't respond to multiple requests for an interview.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Colleen Connors: What makes you the right candidate for the position?

Jenny Brake: I believe I'm the right candidate for this position because I have a lot of experience with the organization. I worked there years ago. I've been on council for three years and for the last 10 months I've been acting chief.

Laura White: I've been born and raised as a Mi'kmaq person here on the island of Newfoundland…. I'm an avid volunteer in Flat Bay with the Restorative Justice Committee. I am president of [the] Indian Cove Women's Circle in Saint Georges. I'm a director for the board of Newfound Aboriginal Women's Network. I've started a drum circle, cultural circle with the Mi'kmaq drumming and cultural circle in Corner Brook, as well as we have one in Stephenville. So I'm in all the communities, but I have an active participation.

I feel the time has come. I feel a calling to this position. I can't watch any longer. The time has come for me to step up and not just sit back and watch anymore. Bring my life experience and education to the table and work as chief with my ward council and other members of Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation to repair any of the damages that have been done, hurt feelings what is happening within the inside of the organization, do some repair work and move the band forward … I just want four years and a turn.

Q: What issues do you have with the way things are running right now?

Brake: I wouldn't say I have problems with the way things are running, but I see the potential in the room for improvement. There's always things that we can do better and there are major issues that we've come across along the way that I know are are real struggles for us. But I see pathways to progress, and I think that with my leadership, we can get there.

White: We have a lot of hurt families where there's division amongst the family members due to a flawed enrolment process that happened way back in 2011. And we're into 2024 and that still hasn't been rectified. We have issues with people who have lived off island, the veterans file as well as one family members in, another family member is not, and yet they had to produce a long form original birth certificate in order to be eligible to apply. Well, what happened to just working collaboratively with Vital Statistics and saying, well, everybody who falls under that family, those parents, they're eligible.

Q: What would you say is the hot topic when you're talking to voters? And is it still the controversy around enrolment from years ago?

Brake: I would think that enrolment is always going to be a conversation for us until we can get it settled. And that's going to be something that's going to take an awfully long time to figure out. I think that with the right supports in place, we can really do that. But it's going to take our whole nation to unify. So that's ... members and non-members to come together, because fighting against one another is not going to get us to the end goal. There are more issues than just enrolment. There's the lack of taxation for our members, the lack of land. There's a lot of things that we need to address. But we're 13 years old and according to a lot of other bands across Canada, we're still very young and we have time to figure this out. And I think we do have the support of the other bands across Canada and our migrant council to help with that.