The upcoming Six Nations General Election for the 59th Elected Band Council will take place on Nov. 4. The community will decide between two candidates running for the head of council: Steve Williams, a former Six Nations Elected Chief, and Sheri-Lyn Hill, a councilor on the current Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC).
Williams was in the role of former Elected Chief for SNEC from 1992 to 1995. He says he says that past experience will allow him to excel in the role of chief once again.
"I've met with ministers before, I'm still meeting with ministers today. I sit on Chiefs of Ontario committees, AFN (Assembly of First Nations) committees. So I'm meeting with a lot of ministers," he said.
"I can talk to people at that level and I still think I have a lot of connections within the government to be to get things we need for Six Nations."
Williams says his love for the community and passion for politics helped him decide to run in the upcoming election.
"I've always liked politics, I think its a great way for us as Six Nations to move forward," he said.
"Right now, there's no voice for Six Nations across Canada, which is unfortunate."
He says his top priorities for the community surround the current road health on the territory, accessibility to clean water and housing.
"I think the top priority is getting the roads finished, which was a mess for four years. [And] continue with the waterline because not all of the reserve has the waterlines and there's got to be something we can do to help them in that area, as well as the seniors can't hook up to the waterlines. They don't have any money to be able to pay $10,000 to be able to hook up to their house. So we have to come up with a plan to be able to do that," he said.
"The housing issue has always been a big issue, there's not enough housing," he added. "There's homeless people here, if they're our members I think we should be looking after them."
He says he's also looking to develop an understanding with the surrounding municipalities' city councils to figure out the way all parties can operate considering the ongoing land disputes that involve Six Nations.
"We've got to start meeting with the mayors of all the areas around us because we have to have agreements on how we're going to operate together because we can't continue going through these land disputes all the time," he said.
"It's not the municipalities fault, it's the province's and the fed's responsibility. So we have to work together with them to be able to say let's get this dealt with properly so we don't always have these disputes. That way we can get development moving, on both sides."
Williams currently sits as the president of Grand River Enterprises but says if elected he will take a leave of absence from that position to focus on his duties as Six Nations Chief.
The next advanced polling date is this weekend Oct. 28 at the Six Nations Community Hall and election day taking place on Nov 4.
To listen to the second CJKS spotlight with chief candidate Sherri-Lyn Hill, click here.
For the full CJKS story listen below: