Joe Jack wants to conclude the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN), extend the vote for Grand Chief to all aboriginal people in the territory and establish a First Nation police force.

Next Wednesday, Jack will make his pitch to the CYFN's annual general assembly in Brook's Brook.

The 59-year-old former Kwanlin Dün First Nation chief challenges interim CYFN chief Ruth Massie for the helm of the body, which represents 14 First Nations across the Yukon and northern N.W.T.

Eleven years ago, Jack left the Yukon and held a variety of positions. Those include aboriginal relations manager for the government of the N.W.T. and most recently, senior self-government negotiator for the Gwich'in Tribal Council, where Jack has taken a leave of absence to run in the upcoming election.

Last week, Jack packed his truck and made the long drive down the Dempster Highway from Inuvik, where he currently lives.

If elected Grand Chief of the CYFN, Jack appears ready to make some big changes, and he's poised to start with the election process itself.

"(Massie) enjoys having all her election costs covered because she's a full-time employee of CYFN. She's not even an incumbent, she's just an interim (chief),” Jack told the Star this week.

He figures he will spend several thousand dollars visiting communities during his campaign trail.

Massie was named interim chief in April after then-Grand Chief Andy Carvill resigned at the end of March, and remains in that position until the July 14 assembly.

"We talk about some of the problems with regard to CYFN; this is one of them in regards to being fair to everyone. This should be cleared up.”

With Jack's pledge to restructure the CYFN into a First Nation territorial government, he believes all aboriginal people living in the Yukon should have a say in who their top representative is.

"If you're going to want to attract good people into the fold, you have to make sure it's a fair process,” Jack said.

"One person, one vote for a position such as this, maybe it's time to look at this.”

The voting system according to the CYFN's election rules calls for six delegates from each affiliated First Nation, including the chief and an executive elder.

Asked why he wants to return to politics, Jack recalled a conversation with an elder who implored him to use his education and experience to improve the lives of others.

"She says, ‘you've gone to school, you've held a good job. Good for you. But if you really think you've come a long way in your healing then come back to the community and help us,' and that's basically where I'm at,” Jack said. "I feel I have something to offer ... and for me, my track record speaks for itself.”

In addition to his role in the N.W.T. bureaucracy and present job with the Gwich'in Tribal Council, from 1977 to 1982, Jack held the position of vice-chair of the Council for Yukon Indians, the CYFN's predecessor.

He was also instrumental in establishing the Yukon Indian Development Corp. and between 1993 and 1996, Jack served as Kwanlin Dün's chief.

Like many others in the Yukon, Jack is angry with the RCMP's treatment of Raymond Silverfox, who died in the Whitehorse drunk tank in December 2008, and wants to see a Yukon First Nations police force operating in the territory.

To make his point, Jack recounts the time an unstable man pulled a rifle on him and his son and threatened to shoot them.

After an investigation by the RCMP led to charges and the confiscation of the suspect's firearms, the Crown failed to prosecute.

"Are there two sets of laws that you apply to people in the territory? Am I a second-class citizen in my own homeland?” Jack asks.

"So at the end of the day, in a true self-governing agreement ... you make your laws, you have your governing council or judicial council that interprets the laws over your homeland and then the next legitimate thing is to have the ability to enforce your laws,” Jack explained

"I've been receiving good responses to the idea in my visits to communities. It's not pie-in-the-sky or something that is too far to comprehend.

"Based on incidents that have been happening here, it appears people are very receptive to that idea.”

Attempts to reach interim chief Massie were unsuccessful as of press time early this afternoon.