Recent elections for chief and council at the Ashcroft Indian Band and Bonaparte First Nation have seen both incumbent chiefs and all councillors returned for another term.
On May 1, Chief Greg Blain of Ashcroft was re-elected for another term, at the end of which he will have served as the band’s chief for 25 years. He received 108 votes, with his only challenger, Angie Thorne, receiving 31 votes.
Two councillors were also elected, with both incumbents — Dennis Pittman (101 votes) and Earl Blain (100 votes) — returning. Glenda Wilson (27 votes), Annette Pittman (21 votes), and Dayton Dick (19 votes) also ran for council seats.
The chief and both councillors will all serve four-year terms, and Chief Blain — who was first elected to that position in June 2004 — says that a goal of this council is to build a strong, safe community.
“But it takes time and a lot of money to get everything in place,” he notes. An example is the planned new recreation centre, work on which is scheduled to start in the next couple of months. It will be located on Cornwall Road between the campground and the travel centre, and planning for it started before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“The cost then was $5 to $6 million, and now it’s at $12 million,” says Blain, adding that since the planned site already has water and power it has allowed them to keep the cost down. “We’re looking to have health and fitness centres, as well as areas for community support. We’re one of the eight Nlaka’pamux bands that bought Cantex [Mining Services], and we’re building a big new maintenance shop for them. We’re partnering with Capstone on the Highland Valley wind farm, and we’re looking at options for vertical farming.
“I’d like to see the community come together as a group and work collectively, and see the community grow in a positive manner.”
On May 3 members of Bonaparte First Nation went to the polls, and incumbent chief Frank Antoine was re-elected to a second term, with a total of 188 votes. His only challenger, Brian Harris, received 122 votes.
Members also voted for four councillors, with incumbents Tammy Brown (194 votes), Matilda Morgan (187 votes), and Verna Billy Minnabarriet (135 votes) all returning. There was a tie for the fourth councillor seat between Neal Antoine and Rochelle Porter, who each received 104 votes, and a run-off election will be held shortly.
Due to recent changes to the length of term served by Bonaparte chief and councillors, Antoine will serve as chief for four years, and Brown and Morgan will each serve four years as councillor. Minnabarriet, and the winner of the run-off vote, will each serve for two years, at which time there will be an election for those seats.
“I’m happy that the community sees what I see now: opportunities, relationships with our neighbours, building partnerships with rural communities,” says Antoine. “It’s good to see we’re moving in the right direction for us as a community and building that outside growth.”
Last year Bonaparte signed a six-year management agreement with the provincial Heritage Branch to operate Historic Hat Creek Ranch — which opened for the 2025 season on May 3 — and the McAbee Fossil Beds site east of Cache Creek. Antoine is particularly excited about the opportunities at McAbee.
“We really want to build a centre at McAbee for tourists and visitors. It will be a beacon to draw people to the area to show them what we have here. I think that will be the greatest thing we do over the next four years, building that site up.”
Antoine adds that they are creating opportunities for Bonaparte members to return home, having gone from 20 staff in 2021 to 81 people now working for the band. “We’re looking at acquiring land so we can build more homes for our people to come home to.”
Another priority is to build a new community hall, to replace the one which burned down last year. “We’re at the discussion stage for a new hall, and that’s one of our main objectives as this council moves forward. We’ve been using the Cache Creek community hall for our events, and we thank them, but we want to have our own site for people to come home to.”
