Chief Roxanne Lindley is hitting the ground running.

The newly elected Westbank First Nation chief is learning the inner workings of the band and the band office on the fly.

After being elected last Thursday, Lindley and her new council were sworn into office Tuesday morning. Between the swearing in, they have been attending meetings to get up to speed.

Castanet News had a chance to speak with Lindley between meetings to discuss a variety of topics.

Castanet: You have to be thrilled at being a trailblazer, being the first female chief elected by WFN members?

Lindley: I'm very excited. It's been a really interesting time in my life and I'm really grateful. I'm full of energy, full of passion, full of ideas. I really look forward to what we can do for our members for the future.

Castanet: What is your vision for the next three years?

Lindley: I want to enhance community member's lives. I want to improve the community, I want to work with all of our community members, all of the residents. I had talked about collaboration and partnership, and I think that's important with West Kelowna and Kelowna.

Castanet: Westbank First Nation is one of the wealthiest bands in Canada but some members continue to struggle. Do you have any plans to bridge that gap?

Lindley: When I speak of community and community enhancement, I am speaking of our community members, so we are bringing that quality of living up to par. That is my priority ... that we are all prospering, we are all receiving benefits. We are taking that pride back.

Castanet: How do you achieve that?

Lindley: I believe education is critical, but what I think is really important here is education. Being able to sit down with the band members and say what is it you need, what do you want, and carry that message forward.

Castanet: Everybody wants to know about the hospital. Do you have an update?

Lindley: I am only so many days into it and I'm not going to speak about the hospital. I'd rather not go there. That's a discussion for our general band membership.

Castanet: What are your plans to try and fill many of the vacant commercial properties in malls on WFN lands?

Lindley: I find that probably the most exciting, the economic part. When I'm done here, I'll be sitting with our corporate group and start putting some of my ideas and  thoughts out there. Start making those plans to go forward, improve and enhance, so what we put out there will be of benefit to everyone. If we do it right, I could see us having people coming into this area because of these malls and these spaces.