Perry Bellegarde elected chief of Assembly of First Nations – Toronto Star

WINNIPEG — Perry Bellegarde, the new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, says he’ll sit down at the table with Prime Minister Stephen Harper but vowed to oppose any resource development on aboriginal land that deprives native people of the “legacy” owed to them.

Bellegarde, 52, chief of the Saskatchewan Indian Nations and a regional chief for that province, was elected on the first ballot Wednesday during the AFN election, taking 63 per cent of the 464 votes. He replaces Shawn Atleo, who resigned abruptly from the post of national chief earlier this year.

Bellegarde, of Little Black Bear First Nation, a Cree-Assiniboine band in southeastern Saskatchewan, was running against Leon Jourdain, a former two-term Treaty 3 grand chief, and Ghislain Picard, the interim AFN chief. Picard placed second in voting.