The Tahltan Central Council has elected a new president.
Chad Norman Day, who has served as a Tahltan band councillor, has replaced Annita McPhee, who was the central council president over three two-year terms.
The results of the election, which came in July 4, show Day had 404 votes, with McPhee getting the second most votes at 251. The third place finish went to Pat Etzerza who had 215 votes and Floyd Joseph received 15.
Day, who is 27-years-old, was born in Vancouver but lived in Telegraph Creek north of Terrace and also in Smithers were he went to public school.
He received his law degree from the University of Victoria this spring with a specialization in litigation involving First Nations individuals.
The Tahltan Central Council is the political arm of the Tahltan nation covering the Tahltan traditional territory and is separate from the two band councils of the Tahltan nation, the Tahltan band council with reserves in Telegraph Creek and Dease Lake and the Iskut band council which has a reserve in Iskut.
The Tahltan Central Council represents the 10 main Tahltan families in dealing with issues on Tahltan traditional territory.
McPhee's time in office was marked by the signing of agreements following community votes with several resource companies, including Calgary-based energy AltaGas which is building three run of river projects along the Iskut River and a taxation sharing deal with the provincial government involving the same AltaGas projects.
The Tahltan also signed a deal with BC Hydro to clear the route through their traditional territory for the crown corporation's Northwest Transmission Line.
But McPhee was also at the forefront of protests, including blockades, over plans by Fortune Minerals to open a large anthracite coal mine in the Klappan area.
She also expressed worries about the environmental impacts from the nearly-finished Red Chris copper mine owned by Imperial Metals of Vancouver.