{"id":101182,"date":"2026-01-16T10:04:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=101182"},"modified":"2026-01-16T10:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:04:53","slug":"we-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/we-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;We need unity&#8217;: Bearspaw First Nation chief and council mark new term at inauguration ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Leah Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Rocky Mountain Outlook \u00ceY\u00c2RHE NAKODA \u2014 With messages of unity and championing the younger generation ringing loud and clear, Bearspaw First Nation marked the start of a new term during the inauguration of the \u00cey\u00e2rhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation band\u2019s chief and council on Friday (Jan. 9). Serving the nation for his 25th accumulative term, Chief Darcy Dixon emphasized that working together alongside the two other Stoney Nakoda First Nations, Goodstoney and Chiniki, is key to moving forward. \u201cWe all share one piece of land, all our people, but as you can see, by working together over a number of years we were able to continue to support one another and make good things happen here in our communities of Big Horn, Morley,&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F16%2Fwe-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Leah Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Rocky Mountain Outlook \u00ceY\u00c2RHE NAKODA \u2014 With messages of unity and championing the younger generation ringing loud and clear, Bearspaw First Nation marked the start of a new term during the inauguration of the \u00cey\u00e2rhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation band\u2019s chief and council on Friday (Jan. 9). Serving the nation for his 25th accumulative term, Chief Darcy Dixon emphasized that working together alongside the two other Stoney Nakoda First Nations, Goodstoney and Chiniki, is key to moving forward. \u201cWe all share one piece of land, all our people, but as you can see, by working together over a number of years we were able to continue to support one another and make good things happen here in our communities of Big Horn, Morley,... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F16%2Fwe-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;We need unity&#039;: Bearspaw First Nation chief and council mark new term at inauguration ceremony - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/we-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;We need unity&#039;: Bearspaw First Nation chief and council mark new term at inauguration ceremony - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Leah Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Rocky Mountain Outlook \u00ceY\u00c2RHE NAKODA \u2014 With messages of unity and championing the younger generation ringing loud and clear, Bearspaw First Nation marked the start of a new term during the inauguration of the \u00cey\u00e2rhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation band\u2019s chief and council on Friday (Jan. 9). Serving the nation for his 25th accumulative term, Chief Darcy Dixon emphasized that working together alongside the two other Stoney Nakoda First Nations, Goodstoney and Chiniki, is key to moving forward. \u201cWe all share one piece of land, all our people, but as you can see, by working together over a number of years we were able to continue to support one another and make good things happen here in our communities of Big Horn, Morley,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/we-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-16T15:04:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/we-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/we-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"&#8216;We need unity&#8217;: Bearspaw First Nation chief and council mark new term at inauguration ceremony\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-16T15:04:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/we-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1052,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/we-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/16\\\/we-need-unity-bearspaw-first-nation-chief-and-council-mark-new-term-at-inauguration-ceremony\\\/\",\"name\":\"'We need unity': Bearspaw First Nation chief and council mark new term at inauguration ceremony - 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