North

Cournoyea wins 9th term as head of Inuvialuit organization

Nellie Cournoyea will remain the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation after Monday's election.

Longtime chair and CEO got 33 of 42 votes

Nellie Cournoyea will remain the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation after Monday’s election.

This will be her ninth term, and she is now the longest serving Chair.

Nellie Cournoyea has won her 9th term as chair and CEO of the corporation, which represents beneficiaries of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. (CBC)

Cournoyea said she's ready for another three-year term.

"Most of everyone up here knows that we have some major files on to look after, like devolution and self-government in Inuvik, and Tuktoyaktuk road and a number of other fairly large responsible areas that we have to address. And I think that the electorate felt that I… they should keep me on the job for another few years to conclude some of these agreements," she said.

There are six Inuvialuit communities. Each is represented by seven directors.

The corporation serves more than 4,000 beneficiaries, but only those 42 directors were eligible to vote.

Cournoyea, who is also a former Premier of the N.W.T., beat out Jerry Lennie Inglanasuk and Richard McLeod.

She received 33 of the 42 votes.