National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo, takes part in a pow wow on the Carry the Kettle First Nation, east of Regina Sunday. He wore a traditional pointed cedar hat of the Ahousaht First Nation on Vancouver Island, where he is from. (CBC)

Fresh from winning the post of Canada's top First Nations leader, National Chief Shawn Atleo made his first visit the home province of the man he defeated.

On Sunday, Atleo, who is from B.C., was the guest of honour at a pow wow on the Carry the Kettle First Nation, which is about 85 kilometres east of Regina.

Atleo won 58 per cent of the vote last Thursday at the Assembly of First Nations election for national chief, beating out Perry Bellegarde after eight ballots at a marathon over-night voting session in Calgary.

Bellegarde was raised in Saskatchewan and is a former chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations.

Atleo's main message Sunday was unity, as he addressed a crowd of onlookers and dancers in colourful, feathered costumes.

"It's time to come together across all of our territories and support one another — treaty and non-treaty," Atleo said to loud applause.

Atleo, who is from the Ahousaht First Nation on Vancouver Island, wore a traditional pointed cedar hat and shawl, which were passed down through his family. On the hat were images of hunters in canoes, aiming spears at a whale.

"Maybe our whale is like the buffalo," Atleo told the crowd, comparing the ocean-faring mammal with the animal that is sacred to aboriginal people on the Prairies.

Atleo also encouraged young Aboriginal people to take an interest in their heritage.

"Sit down with the elders, sit down with the grandparents."

Speaking to reporters after an evening of dancing and drumming, Atleo said his next trip would be back home to B.C., where he will start devising a plan for his term as national chief.

"The transition work will come. I need to get home, get things organized back home before I actually get into office in Ottawa," he said.

Voting process questioned

The chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, Lawrence Joseph, also attended Sunday's pow wow and took a swipe at the voting process that elected Atleo.

The national chief is selected by the chiefs, or his or her representative, of the 633 First Nations that are members of the AFN. More than 87 per cent of the bands took part in last week's election.

"I had a lot of calls from chiefs who said that we need to find a better formula to make it more representative of the populations," Joseph told reporters.

"That means the bands that are 7,000, 8,000 [people] are questioning how … a chief with a 100 members could have the same vote."

Joseph said it was also unfortunate that voting for the national chief took so long — more than 23 hours. Almost 100 bands dropped out by the eighth ballot.

"It petered out to become just who can endure the lack-of-sleep the longest," said Joseph.

AFN spokesperson Bryan Hendry told CBC News that many chiefs at last week's election agree with Joseph and that a review of the voting process could take place later this year by the AFN executive.

"I'm sure something will be done," Hendry said, pointing out that an AFN Renewal Commission has recommended the national chief be picked by individual First Nations members, instead of just chiefs.