{"id":106616,"date":"2026-07-08T13:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106616"},"modified":"2026-07-08T13:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:47:09","slug":"kukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/08\/kukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Kukko has a challenger in Nipigon mayoral election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SNnewswatch.com NIPIGON \u2014 The mayoral ballot in Nipigon has a second candidate: Matthew Dupuis. The local business owner and former Red Rock Indian Band chief filed with the township clerk\u2019s office to challenge incumbent Suzanne Kukko in her bid for a second term. Dupuis\u2019s LinkedIn page says he has been a partner in Pelletier\u2019s Gas Bar &amp; Native Art Gallery in Lake Helen since 2021 and was Red Rock chief in 2018-19. He has been employed by Northern Mat and Bridge, a construction company headquartered in Grande Prairie, Alta., since 2019 and is currently its director of Indigenous partnerships and commercial strategy. \u201cI did one term on council, one term as chief for Red Rock Indian Band, and I\u2019ve always been basically a&#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, Canada Print and Online, and USA 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%2F07%2F08%2Fkukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SNnewswatch.com NIPIGON \u2014 The mayoral ballot in Nipigon has a second candidate: Matthew Dupuis. The local business owner and former Red Rock Indian Band chief filed with the township clerk\u2019s office to challenge incumbent Suzanne Kukko in her bid for a second term. Dupuis\u2019s LinkedIn page says he has been a partner in Pelletier\u2019s Gas Bar &amp; Native Art Gallery in Lake Helen since 2021 and was Red Rock chief in 2018-19. He has been employed by Northern Mat and Bridge, a construction company headquartered in Grande Prairie, Alta., since 2019 and is currently its director of Indigenous partnerships and commercial strategy. \u201cI did one term on council, one term as chief for Red Rock Indian Band, and I\u2019ve always been basically a... <\/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, Canada Print and Online, and USA 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%2F07%2F08%2Fkukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election%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-106616","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-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kukko has a challenger in Nipigon mayoral election - 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\/07\/08\/kukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kukko has a challenger in Nipigon mayoral election - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SNnewswatch.com NIPIGON \u2014 The mayoral ballot in Nipigon has a second candidate: Matthew Dupuis. The local business owner and former Red Rock Indian Band chief filed with the township clerk\u2019s office to challenge incumbent Suzanne Kukko in her bid for a second term. Dupuis\u2019s LinkedIn page says he has been a partner in Pelletier\u2019s Gas Bar &amp; Native Art Gallery in Lake Helen since 2021 and was Red Rock chief in 2018-19. He has been employed by Northern Mat and Bridge, a construction company headquartered in Grande Prairie, Alta., since 2019 and is currently its director of Indigenous partnerships and commercial strategy. \u201cI did one term on council, one term as chief for Red Rock Indian Band, and I\u2019ve always been basically a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/08\/kukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-07-08T17:47:09+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=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/kukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/kukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Kukko has a challenger in Nipigon mayoral election\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-08T17:47:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/kukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":234,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/kukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/kukko-has-a-challenger-in-nipigon-mayoral-election\\\/\",\"name\":\"Kukko has a challenger in Nipigon mayoral election - 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