Grand Portage Tribal Council candidates speak to WTIP

The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is holding a special election on July 1 to fill the Tribal Council Chair position. Vying for that seat on the Tribal Council are Marie Spry and Beth Drost.

The vacancy occurred when the Grand Portage community lost its long-time leader, Chair Norman Deschampe, who died on February 9, 2019.

Since then, Vice-Chair Marie Spry has been serving as interim tribal chair and when she filed to run for the office of chair, she had to resign her seat on the council.

That created a committee person vacancy and Grand Portage Band members voted to fill that council seat in the April 29, 2019 election. Four community members ran for that office and Rick Anderson received the majority of votes, so he won the seat and did not have to go on to the July 1 election.

Spry and Drost were the successful candidates in the primary April 29 primary and they are on the July 1 ballot.

Both of the candidates agreed to speak with WTIP Community Radio and you can click to listen to those interviews below.