ahousaht’s first council was appointed by the ha’wiih rather than elected by the membership, sometime in the early 1950s. the late paul sam, (stanley sam’s father), was the first chief councillor. we eventually went to the elected system, as dictated by the indian act. coincidentally or not, it has since been down hill in many ways — economically, socially and culturally, as we struggle with two systems of governance. work has been done to bridge the gap between the two systems by both the elected and the hereditary leaders, with both sides quite interested in supporting and supplementing each other's goals and objectives.