Wampum

The nine Mi'kmaq of Bands located in western and central Newfoundland (Isle) overwhelmingly endorsed an agreement-in-principle over the weekend with the federal government that will give them recognition as status Indians.

The Federation of Newfoundland Indians has around 10,500 members, of which about 8,000 were eligible to vote. A total of 3,232 ballots were cast in Saturday’s vote and the preceeding Tuesday's advance polls. Of those 2,913 were in favor of the agreement-in-principle announced by the FNI and the federal government last fall.

This means that the members of the Federation of Newfoundland Indians will obtain recognition under Canada's Federal Indian Act.

The federation chose to pursue status as a landless band, because so many of its members live in different communities and did not want to move from their homes to a reserve.

There is a very nice piece on the election at The Western Star.

This is an approach that is foreign to the US Federal Indian Law experience, yet Native Hawai'ians, and California Mission Indians until rather recently (and my neighbors, the Esselens and just about every other non-gaming California Indian Band), and the Lumbees and ... actually exist in landless, status limbo(s) (note the plural).

The turn-out was an order of magnitude greater than the CNO's last attempt at democracy. Something to keep in mind, Tribal elections don't have to be complete cock-ups.

h/t Acee's Indianz.com