Tseshaht First Nation has elected its first-ever female, and youngest, elected chief councillor.
Cynthia Dick, who turns 27 today, was elected May 12 along with Corey Anderson, Hugh Braker, Melanie Fred, Jennifer Gallic, Luke George, John Gomez, Eunice Joe and Trevor Little. She is one of four new councillors. On May 19, at the first meeting of the new Tseshaht council, Dick was chosen from among the group to sit as elected chief, replacing Hugh Braker who served in that position the last term.
Ha-Shilth-Sa sat down with the newly-elected chief the day after the election. Dick, the daughter of Eileen Watts and Richard Dick Sr., said she is conscious of the fact that she has assumed an elected position that will at times put her on a national stage.
“I recognize the responsibilities that come with this role, and I have full confidence that I have the ability to do what needs to be done,” she said. “And I know I have the support of our council and the rest of the community and the hereditary chiefs, and that we will all work together towards what we want as Tseshaht.”
Dick said she spent part of her childhood in the care of family members and partly in foster care, “in the system.” Despite those bumps in the road, Dick said she was able to stay connected with her Nuu-chah-nulth culture as she attended first Haahuupayak school, then A.W. Neill, and graduated from Alberni District Secondary School in 2007.
Dick started her post-secondary at North Island College, then transferred to Vancouver Island University in 2008, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in 2014, with a Major in Sociology and a Minor in Psychology.
“I started as a summer student at [the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council] in 2007, and I worked in a number of departments,” she said.
Those included Non-Insured Health Benefits and Social Development and Health Promotion, but her most compelling role was in Education.
“I started as the Post-Secondary Counsellor, but then I went back to Tseshaht as Office Manager (October 2014). Then, last June, I went back (to NTC) as the Pathways to Student Success Supervisor.”
Dick said her decision to run for council flowed from her term as Tseshaht office manager.
“I started attending the meetings and recording the meetings. I became very passionate about everything that happens with Tseshaht, and I decided I wanted to get more people involved.”
When Dick returned to NTC, she continued to participate in community meetings and educated herself on the local, provincial and national issues Tseshaht is involved in on a daily basis.
“I am up to date – not completely, of course, but I am definitely aware. And I will continue to educate myself,” she said.
For her election campaign, Dick used social media as a matter of course.
“But I was really excited about running and about being accepted as a candidate, so I went above and beyond, and ordered a bunch of lawn signs.”
Motorists on Ekooth Road and Old Logging Road could not miss the huge campaign signs created by family members. Then there were those people wearing “Cynthia for Council” shirts.
Balloting took place from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 12, after which Tseshaht members were invited to watch the ballot count.
“It felt great to know I had my community behind me in this decision,” Dick said.
Dick declined to comment on the nomination process that saw her elected as chief councillor in an internal ballot. In part, she admitted, she was unsure of the media protocol surrounding the proceedings. But she will say she avoided “politicking” with the other newly-elected councillors to win their favor.
“My approach was to stay away from that. I wanted to make a fresh start when the nine of us were elected, recognizing that we would all work together from that point.
“The first priority for me is to build those relationships and work with the community to get where we want to go.”
Dick said her experience in NTC Education reinforced her belief in the importance of acknowledging and promoting the value of Nuu-chah-nulth culture, both to students and to the general population as a whole.
“This all goes back to hishukish ts’awalk – we are all one and interconnected. That is the great thing about Nuu-chah-nulth culture – we are all so welcoming and, for the most part, everyone can be part of it,” she said.
That understanding of culture has led Dick to recognize the value of gaining fluency in other cultures. This fall, her four-year-old daughter will begin kindergarten at Alberni Elementary, with the goal of attending the French Immersion program. For a young multilingual and culturally-literate person, the horizons are almost endless.
“I do my best to make sure she has that strong attachment to our culture, and I will definitely encourage both along the way,” she said.
Port Alberni
