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This article was published 10/12/2014 (2112 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a widely-praised speech Tuesday, Saskatchewan’s Perry Bellegarde was elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations on the first ballot.

Bellegarde won 291 of the 464 ballots, easily surpassing the 60 per cent of the vote needed to win. He bested Ghislain Picard, who won 136 and Leon Jourdain, who earned 35 votes.

Most of the 50-odd Manitoba chiefs who attended the AFN special gathering in Winnipeg supported Bellegarde, though some also expressed frustration with the AFN’s inability to respond effectively to the grassroots.

With a short oath, an eagle feather and a talking stick from the British Columbia chiefs, Bellegarde was sworn in Wednesday afternoon and used his victory speech to ask repeatedly for unity among members of the AFN.

Bellegarde called his first-ballot win a humbling experience, and spoke of the renaissance of indigenous culture despite Indian Act control, residential schools and other attempts to assimilate.

"After 500 years of colonization and oppression, we are still here," he said. "We’re getting our pride back."

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The newly elected Grand Chief Perry Bellegarde (centre) with his fiance Val Galley (second from right) and his seconders, Chief Roger William (right) and Chief Marianna Couchie (third from left) after the Assembly of First Nations election Wednesday afternoon at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

He committed again to pushing for a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women and pledged to push back against attempts by Ottawa to impose policies.

"No longer can Canada start promoting policies that are not based on recognition of aboriginal rights and title," said Bellegarde. "For us, it’s still unfinished treaty business."

He also spoke directly to Canadians, saying First Nations will oppose any attempt to develop resources, including pipelines, that damage traditional lands unless bands consent and earn revenue-sharing agreements.

"The values of fairness and tolerance which Canada exports to the world is a lie when it comes to our people," he said. "Canada is Indian land."

He also gave a shout-out to the longstanding issue of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, isolated and left without clean water by Winnipeg’s aqueduct.

"That will be addressed," he said, to cheers.

Jourdain, the third-place candidate, earned a smattering of boos during his concession speech, in which he said Prime Minister Stephen Harper would be celebrating Bellegarde’s victory.

"To those who have gone and maintained the road to our own demise, this will haunt us all," said Jourdain. "Assimilation has done what it’s supposed to do. The Indian Act has penetrated the hearts of our leaders…This was an Indian act vote."

Jourdain was widely seen as the more radical candidate, who said he would stop meeting with Harper and consult more with the grassroots.