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The Westbank First Nation Local Government consists of one Chief and four Councillors who govern under the Westbank First Nation Constitution. Council members serve a three-year term of office.
Over the past few decades, newly elected Westbank First Nation Chief Robert Louie has built a reputation as a trusted leader, successful businessman and advocate for legislative change to further the economic and social well-being of Indigenous Peoples.
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A longtime Westbank First Nation leader and former lawyer specializing in Indigenous law, Robert previously served as Chief for 24 years until 2016 – during which time he helped guide the Nation through independence, achieving self-governance in 2005.
Robert has held many leadership and advisory roles with government and private industry over the years, including more than 30 years as Chairman of the First Nations Lands Advisory Board. Louie is a recipient of many esteemed designations and awards, including Officer of the Order of Canada, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business’ 2022 Aboriginal Business Lifetime Achievement Award.
Robert is committed to supporting and ensuring WFN works on affordable housing, education, employment, and health care for Membership. He supports cultural, elders, and youth programs. He is a team builder and is prepared to mentor the Council, Administration, and key staff. Robert brings experience, strong leadership abilities, the knowledge and know-how, and the energetic drive to do what it takes to get the job done.
Internal Committees:
External Committees:
Councillor Alexander is the daughter of Alfred and Marilyn Alexander, and the granddaughter of the late Laura Alexander and Dave Flett, and maternal granddaughter of Eustine Jack of the Ulkatcho Nation. Andrea’s spouse is Kyle Allen and she is a proud mother to JJ Allen and Haisley Alexander.
Andrea grew up in the Westbank First Nation community where she attended the Westbank Indian Band School, sensisyusten, Chief Tomat Elementary, and MBSS. She completed her post-secondary education at UBCO, graduating with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree majoring in Indigenous Studies. Andrea served on Council from the 2019-2022 term and now has been re-elected for the 2022-2025 term. Her passion as a leader is community building and bringing our people together to promote healing. She is an inter-generational survivor of residential school and is committed to continue her work for the health and wellness of her community. Aside from these professional commitments, she is on her second term serving on the Okanagan College Board of Governors where she is able to ensure reconciliation in the field of education and bring her experience to the Board.
Andrea is committed to moving forward in a positive way and focusing on building up her community, the young people, and working with staff to create a healthier future for our youth. She is ready to collaborate with the membership and Council because a healthy team reflects a healthy community.
Council Committees:
Councillor Derrickson is a proud member of Westbank First Nation. She is the first child of Jo-Ann & Larry Derrickson, Sr., and sixth granddaughter of Mary & Dave Derrickson, Sr.
After graduation she began building her career at Westbank First Nation, starting in Administration, then moving to Intergovernmental Affairs as a researcher and GIS technician, and eventually to Senior Lands Officer from 2000 to 2010, where she also completed her Professional Lands Management Certification at the University of Saskatchewan.
With a strong commitment to her community, Angie has participated in many governance initiatives and implementation activities of the WFN Self‐ Government Agreement, including committees, community working groups, treaty negotiations, land acquisition, land code development, law development and land registry system.
From 2010 to 2013, Angie joined the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations as the Policy Analyst where she examined provincial and federal policy, programs and legislative initiatives that affect the rights, title and interests throughout BC and Canada. She also continued to promote awareness of community governance initiatives by contributing to the development and delivery of Parts 1, 2, 3 of the BCAFN Governance Toolkit; providing support to First Nations to conduct governance self‐assessments and develop community engagement tools.
In June 2013, Angie joined the First Nations Land Management Resource Centre where she supports signatory First Nations under the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management where she continues to develop her skills by achieving an Associate Certificate in Training and Facilitation at the Justice Institute of British Columbia, is currently working on her Professional Certificate in Management & Leadership at Royal Roads University and continues to support strategic approaches for Training, Mentorship and Professional Development for Land Management across Canada.
Angie is honored to be elected in 2022 to hold a seat on WFN Council and looks forward to contributing to the strategic priorities while highlighting WFN’s unique land base, cultural values and governance structure.
way̓ pisnqsílxʷ. incáʔ iskʷist c̓ris. isk̓ʷuy̓ Barb Coble naʔł inlʔíw Rick Sagayadan iʔ skʷists. iłqaqcáʔ James naʔł iłsísn̓caʔ Brooks.
istm̓tímaʔ tuwi Katherine Louie iʔ skʷists naʔł inkikʷaʔ tuwi Paul Coble. intatúpaʔ tuwi lala (Martina San Pierre) naʔł tuwi Gaston Louie tl̓ n̓kmplqs.
Jordan is married to Chelsea Coble and is the proud father of Keyara, Hadley, and Nyelle. He was one of the original attendees of what was then the Westbank Indian Band school, now Sensisyusten, and attended high school at MBSS. Jordan earned his degree from UBCO, and also graduated from the 4-year adult immersion language program at the Syilx Language House. Additionally, he has completed numerous courses and programs related to Indigenous governance, leadership, and project management.
Okanagan people have always been the hardest working people and Jordan strives to lead by example in this regard. Moving forward as a community and government will require a balanced approach, holding up our ways of being in order to protect our resources, rights, and responsibilities while also ensuring we continue to focus on caring for our people.
Jordan believes in the power of our knowledge and language as the source of our understanding of our responsibilities. He is focused on working with our members to bring more of this knowledge to the forefront while setting a good example and creating a healthier path for the next generations of leaders. Way̓ limləm̓t
IIʔ skʷist. Iʔ suma skʷist Sara Tronson. Iʔ mistum Harvey Tronson. Iʔ tum Judy Sylte. Iʔ sx̌ax̌paʔ twi Tom Tronson. Iʔ qa̓qnaʔ twi Edith McDougal. Iʔ st̓əmkʔilt snt’aqxan suma skʷist McKinley.
Sara grew up and lives in Westbank and is an active, involved and energetic member of the WFN community. She comes from an honest, hard-working family.
Sara has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a Human Resources Management Specialty from Okanagan College, along with 10 years of previous work experience at Westbank First Nation. In that time, she moved up into the different positions, including: After School Care Worker, Youth Leader, Administrative Support, and finally the Human Resource Coordinator position for 3 years. Sara has been working at the En’owkin Centre in Penticton for just over a year and has recently completed her certificate in the Nsyilxcen Language Fluency program. She will be working towards completing that degree. As a child, Sara attended the WFN community daycare and Sensisyusten. Her daughter is currently attending Sensisyusten as well.
In her spare time, Sara enjoys being involved in sports; snowboarding is her favourite winter activity. She was previously an athlete on WFNs high performance snowboard team and attended the snowboard cross nationals at Big White in 2014. Sara also enjoy playing softball, and regularly plays in the Native Canadian Softball Championships and runs a community slo-pitch team. Leading a healthy and active lifestyle is important to Sara and is something she would encourage for all WFN members.
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