The new way of choosing leaders went against the old traditional ways by which the Innu ran their affairs. The Innu had always relied on the elders in the camp, and they had their way of selecting camp leaders. There were many kinds of leaders. There was a camp leader and leaders for hunting. Almost everyone in the camp had a role to play.

The election system created division and took away the elders’ traditional role. It also brought all the kinds of corruption elections can have. In our small community, people with large families can control band council elections and government. Also, anyone who has a lot of alcohol can win a seat on council. Now every year we have elections in Davis Inlet, mainly because people crave influence or business contracts or good employment from the council. People think of community government in terms of what power or favours they can get. Petty politics grew from a spark into a blazing fire that divides the community today. The only way to extinguish the flames is to create a new way of electing community representatives. We need a way for everyone to have their say.