Candidate Essay: Kyle Fairbanks Sr.

District III Candidate: Kyle Fairbanks Sr.

Boozhoo Leech Lake Nation. My name is Kyle Fairbanks Sr. After deep thought and conversations with my family I am pleased to announce that I will be declaring my candidacy for the upcoming 2024 elections to serve you, the Leech Lake Nation, as your District 3 Representative.

I currently reside on the Leech Lake Nation in the Cass Lake area. My parents are Linda Fairbanks (Budreau) and Rodney Beaulieu, my late Grandparents are Loretta Budreau (Jones) and Milton Budreau Sr.

I would like to take this time to introduce myself to those who are unfamiliar with me. I am an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. I am 34 years old. I grew up in South Minneapolis, in the Powderhorn/East Phillips Neighborhood.

Throughout my childhood I would spend my summers with my grandmother, Loretta Budreau, who was a big inspiration in my upbringing, and had a positive impact on my life. She resided in the Tract 33 community, in Cass Lake.

In 2008, I graduated from Minneapolis South High School. From there onto the journey into adulthood, my high school sweetheart (wife) and I relocated to the Scott County area in Southern Minnesota where I accepted a position at Mystic Lake Casino for the food and beverage department where I dedicated 15 years of service to the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. Through my dedication, hard work ethic, communication skills, and trust of my peers, I was able to achieve a leadership position that had a significant impact on me wanting to make a change and have that change be within my own Nations community.

In 2010 we welcomed our first child together. Since then, we have welcomed three more beautiful children into the world. Becoming a father has made me learn and understand the importance of family values and responsibility. It has molded me into the strong person I am today.

I want to hear from my fellow Leech Lakers what they would like the focus to be for our Nation if I have the great honor to represent us as D3 Rep. Please feel free to contact me via my cell phone (612) 462-5876 or email me at Kylefairbanks25@gmail.com so we can meet or discuss our Nation’s future together. Let us make change together for all our future generations.

For now, I will share some of my focus areas with you:

Focus: to find ways to support the shared social and cultural relationships, values, and activities that Leech Lake citizens maintain.
Goal: listen to my fellow Leech Lakers about what they envision in these focus areas and implement programs that strive based on all our values. Supporting all age activities that my fellow Leech Lakers share with me and creating activities through programs. Understand each of us are unique as individuals and may have different social and cultural relationships and or other values and teachings but strive to work together as a whole.

Focus: accountability, first to ourselves, our family, our Nation, and as a leader.
Goal: to hold myself accountable to the actions and decisions I make. Emphasize and advocate the importance of family accountability and support to each other because families are the strongest assets we have in a healthy Nation. I will lead by example by being transparent and accountable to our Nation and Citizens as a leader.

Focus: to create conditions in which citizens can meet their economic needs and support their families.
Goal: to create more small business opportunities for citizens. Investing in our people to build a stronger healthier Leech Lake. Hiring more Leech Lakers in key positions based on qualifications and or experience. Look at the wage structure and implement a fair percentage of increases for all positions over time to not hinder the overall budget. Analyze the current housing shortage, whether it be because of lack of funding, land, and or resources and implement a plan to expand housing so families have affordable options for living.

Focus: continue the excellent work of other Leech Lake leaders, Staff, and Leech Lake Members.
Goal: Execute long term plans. Revisit old plans and revise if needed. Strengthen policies and procedures to protect employees. Continue the fight for true sovereignty. Continue to implement separation of powers internally and externally from Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.

In closing, I humbly ask my community for your support as I continue this campaign journey. I am taking on this journey for us as a community and for all our voices to be heard as one Nation. My campaign is not about me, it is about what you as a community would like to foresee happen with the future of our Leech Lake Band. I want to see our future thrive on accountability, transparency, and the overall wellbeing of all our people.