In a letter to the Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) membership. dated Dec. 23, 2025, Chief Tammy Cook-Searson announced she will not run in the upcoming 2026 LLRIB election, bringing to an end 28 years of service with LLRIB.
“I’ve been talking with my husband and our children, just giving it a lot of reflection,” Cook-Searson wrote in a Facebook post to LLRIB membership. “I’ve served on council now 28 years; over 20 as Chief … As difficult as it is to announce that I will not seek another term, the time has come for me to focus on being a wife, mother, and kohkum.
“Right now, the Band is in solid financial position. We are in good standing. Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership (KMLP) is also on a good solid financial position. Were have system’s in place, we have strong management,” she also said of LLRIB, in an interview with the Prince Albert Daily Herald.
The LLRIB membership has doubled in size (now more than 12,700 members strong) since Cook-Searson became chief in 2005. The Band also has “900 employees with our programs and services.”
KMLP also has “a record amount of employees right now, we have 1964 employed there … Everything is going good.”
Along with those figures, Cook-Searson also said, “we still have our community investment money from our, Cows and Plows, that we set aside. There’s still $40 million plus interests that the communities will still have … we haven’t spent that yet.”
Cook-Searson also paid tribute to both her parents, the late Charlie and late Miriam Cook, for the work ethic and pride in her language and culture and “to never give up.” She also said, her in-laws, George and Josie Searson, also provided much support to her over the years in assisting to raise her children, for which, she expressed gratitude along with many Band members.
Plans for the future – to take some time off to spend with her family.
“I want to take a few months, because I’ve been working; I don’t take time off, so it’ll be different. It’ll be nice to just focus on the family.”
Cook-Searson will continue as Chief until the day before Nomination Day for the 2026 Band elections, the date of which has yet to be determined, she said, adding, “It will probably be the first week of March.”
They are looking for a new Electoral Officer, who will run the election process.
“We are just waiting to fill that position and then we’ll set the date with the Tribunal because the Ad has been out. We’ve been recruiting Tribunal members to help run the election.”
Final dates for Nomination Day and the election itself will be set once the Electoral Officer and Tribunal positions are filled. The Tribunal is a committee of Band members, who will “run and oversee” the election process.
Election Day is usually close to the end of March of the Election year.
Cook-Searson reminisced about her entry into the political realm, beginning when, although she had no intention of running, she attended a Nominating Day and was approached to run for Council.
“One of my late uncles, Marius RedIron, he looked at me and he said, ‘You should run for Council.’”
RedIron, nominated here and she accepted the challenge, but did not win the first round. She was elected to Council in 1997, when her daughter, Aileen, was two months old, winning by three votes.
She has since participated and won in 10 elections in her more than 28-year career.
The accomplishments Cook-Searson has seen over the years include: fighting “together for our inherent rights. We were able to succeed in negotiating one of the biggest claims in Canada with our Agricultural Benefits claim, also known as Cows and Plows.”
Promotion of language has been another important avenue, which includes the digitalising of the Colin Charles TH Dictionary, which has been completed over an eight-year period.
“It’s done now; that’ll be there forever,” she said. “(It’s) preserving our language.”
Many other things completed over the years include: building indoor hockey rinks, building bridges, including one in Sucker River and getting the Clam Bridge rebuilt, which was burned in the wildfire this past spring.
“Highway’s built a new one there, a permanent on. That’s nice to see.”
Partnerships have been created with the two municipalities, the Northern Village of Air Ronge, and the Town of La Ronge, which include: water treatment, fire protection, and the landfill, all of which, including the Visitor’s Centre, and jointly run.
“We’ve built indoor hockey rinks,” in the communities. LLRIB has five remote communities, Stanley Mission, Sucker River, Hall Lake, Grandmother’s Bay and Little Red River.
Plans are underway to build a high school in Grandmother’s Bay. Currently there is an elementary school and high school students attend in La Ronge.
“We have fought for clean water for all our communities. In Little Red [River], for example, we were able to finally secure a capital project t build a water treatment plant specifically for the community of Little Red on the La Ronge side … we just got to get the project tender ready so it can go to tender … we are hoping to get that project within probably a year. We have the funds secured for that, so that project is in motion,” she said.
“Structural fire protection in all the communities … like houses, buildings in the community … being able to get out there to fight the fires that are always coming our way because we’re surrounded by forest … just getting better prepared for our communities,” which includes having and maintaining better equipment, is a priority being focused on, she added.
They have been able to “secure a new fire hall for Little Red, so that is going out to tender. We have a fire turck. We have equipment, we have been training the local community members to be part of the fire department.”
Housing has always been a priority.
“We are just continuing to work on improving all our communities with wildfire equipment we need … and housing. “We’re always building new housing, then renovating existing housing, getting water to our infrastructure, like enhancing local services.
And there’s the Woodland Wellness Centre. :It stands out as one of the best treatment and recovery centres in Canada, ” which they were to “secure funding that’s permanent, instead of having to apply for it year-after-year,” Cook-Searson said.
Dealing with the COVID Pandemic was another area, that held some significant challenges, but they were able to work with neighbouring communities and attain a high success rate with “one of our communities having over 90 per cent vaccinations.”
Currently LLRIB is working on a Feasibility Study focusing on mental health and addiction services for the next five to 10 years. It is a update after 10 years, of a study that was completed in 2015.
“We have land-based teachings, land-based camps … most of the communities have it … it’s something that’s integrated with, whether it’s Child and Family Services, Education, Health even just getting out there, like taking community members and elders, youth hunting, berry-picking, you know, getting out on the land, because we recoginze the healing power of the land … We recognize that we have a lot of social issues in or communities, with drugs, the alcohol, the gangs, the violence. There’s still so much more work to be done. … I’m really proud of all the work that LLRIB is doing in the community and always being there and continuing to strive for healthier communities and doing our best to make our communities safe.”
Cook-Searson is the longest servicing Chief in LLRIB history. Tributes poured in through Facebook since her decision became known.
After 28 years, Cook-Searson’s plan, once she leaves office, is to spend the next few months at home with family.
