At a membership meeting and gathering held in De Grau of this First Nation community an intern band council was elected until the next annual assembly when band council elections will take place for a three year term. Elected were:
The band Council was sworn in with Jerome Benoit, Elder, as official witness. Traditional Mi’kmaq music was played before the gathering as well as during the break with snack food and beverages.
The council has great ambitions including the construction of a Micmac centre for the area to house the band council and general meetings, workshops, seminars, cultural and traditional teachings as well as youth, women and elder activities. Site preparation will begin in the spring. An intern band office has been set up in De Grau and telephone installed. Many thanks go to all who have donated or helped out, including Peter Benoit for helping with this, including the donation of a filing cabinet. The band telephone number is 644-2688. An answering machine donated by Conrad and Regina Benoit will be set up. A fax machine donated by Duane and Melina Costard will be set up shortly.
Youth Director Holly Simon volunteered to create a new band website with a suggested URL address of http://www.benoitfirstnation.org . She has a great reputation in website creation and design. In the meantime, the Chief has set up a temporary website at: http://benoitfirstnation.tripod.com .
Chief Benwah explained that the name Benoit First Nation was in honour of the First Benoit to come to Taqamkuk (Newfoundland): Francois Benoit and Anne L’Official as well as Luc Benoit who was the first known resident of what is now known as Marches Point but at one point was known as Point a Luc. He explained that he saw this band as a revival of the band activity that began in the area back in 1972. After this long period of local inactivity, we will fill that void with a strong local Mi’kmaq presence.
An update on the landless band process was given as well as an update newsletter from the FNI was distributed to the membership. Benoit First Nation, while an independent band, has a policy of registering its local members with the FNI through its general membership process. A band council meeting will follow next week to begin moving our agenda forward. Culture, language and well-being will be our focus as we look forward to be registered as status Indians.
The band council looks forward to working with other first nation organizations, government, other local groups and anyone else willing for the mutual benefit of all.
Copyright © 2005 Benoit First Nation