November 20, 2005


Country Music Capital of Canada Elects First Nations's Councillor

Merritt BC. History was made on November 19th in the Municipal elections of the town that is officially known as the Country Music Capital of Canada. For the first time ever in the City of Merritt, a member of a First Nations' community has been elected to the City Council.

Nadia Hunter is a member of the nearby Lower Nicola Indian Band and is a resident of Merritt, was elected as Councillor on Saturday. Hunter said, "Being a First Nations" woman running for municipal politics is challenging. You really have to win over the community for their votes. At many times in the race, it seemed like the odds were against me."

There were approximately 1,400 people that cast a vote for the election of six council seats. Hunter received just over fifty percent of the votes with 742 in her favour. It was a very close race for Nadia as she won the final seat in the election by beating out four other candidates.

The council is predominantly male with the exception of Hunter. Also newly elected is Peter Samra who is a member of the Indo-Canadian community.

Re-elected to Council with the most votes is Ron Sherwood. He said, "It's nice to see we have First Nations and Indo-Canadians represented at the Council table because they represent such a large part of our community."

Nadia Hunter is Okanagan, Thompson and Scottish Descent and is married to Troy Hunter.