The 2023 candidates: Yellowknife North | CBC News

Election day in the Northwest Territories is Nov. 14, and CBC North wants to give you the information you need to make an informed vote. We sent all the candidates a questionnaire asking them about themselves and where they stand on big issues. 

Read their responses below, in alphabetical order by first name. If responses or photos are missing, it’s because the candidate has not yet sent us their answers. We will add answers as we get them.

Responses have been edited for clarity, but reflect the candidates’ own words and views.

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Why are you running for office?

The North is my home. Yellowknife has been really good to me. Truthfully, there is so much we can do with a $2.5 billion budget and 6,000 well-trained, committed staff under the right leadership.

What experience would you bring to the role of MLA?

As a journalist over the decades, I have documented the workings of government and the lives of the people across the N.W.T. As a business person running companies dependent upon other businesses around the North, fighting staff turnover and high costs, I know what it takes to survive in the marketplace, even during a COVID pandemic. I have raised five children, experienced the high costs and shortage of daycare and am now watching my grown children face many of the same challenges.

What is the biggest issue facing the territory right now?

The stagnant economy and all the problems it creates.

What is the biggest issue in your riding?

The stagnant economy and all the problems it creates.

What needs the most improvement in how the GNWT operates?

We ignore and devalue northern knowledge and expertise. The mantra appears to be: When in doubt, contract out! And I mean down South. Northern contractors and workers know their stuff. We have so much northern knowledge and experience both in and outside the GNWT. That should be the first stop on everything from policy development, to community engagement to programming. There are few problems we cannot solve ourselves.

If you could accomplish only one thing while in office, what would it be?

On-the-land healing facilities in every N.W.T. community. It all begins there.

What would you do as MLA to improve the GNWT’s relationship with Indigenous governments?

Point out the fact that the success of the GNWT is tied to the success of the Indigenous governments. Their people are our people. Power sharing that produces results will help us all move toward the goal of growing the N.W.T. economy and improving the lives of all northerners.

What should the territory do to address the impacts of climate change?

Engage territorial experts to produce northern solutions. Diavik’s wind farm is viewed as a win. They built their wind farm off-grid in the harshest conditions. Inuvik now has wind generation but the cost of installation hurt the project. Let’s learn from the two examples. Electric vehicles make sense in small communities, and the highway corridor north, district heating systems create efficiencies. Hydro power in the South Slave can produce electric heat and, I’m told, hydrogen diesel. We talk about run-of-river projects but we never install them. Instead we focus on very expensive transmission lines and dam expansions that cannot support a business case. There’s a two-year wait to get energy audits for our homes. Why not fill that need so people can act on climate change in their own lives? Same goes with adding solar subsidies to hydro communities. Let’s help the renewable sector grow, not stunt it.

As for forest management, our communities are essentially little islands in an ocean of forests.  We have to live with fires so we had better renew our efforts to understand them. We have Canadian Forces Rangers and Coast Guard auxiliaries, why not community forest ranger auxiliaries, volunteer and paid? We brought firefighters in from South Africa while many of our young adults sat in the south watching fire threaten their homes up North. If they had the training, they could have been put to work . Perhaps in future we can send them to help South Africa fight their fires when we have a wet season. Forest firefighting is both a science and a trade. Proper training can be an economic opportunity and a measure of protection for the forest fires certain to be in our future.

What should the GNWT do to grow the territory’s economy?

Think small to grow big. Focus on building capacity in the communities. Example: On-the-land healing camps can be built by local expertise and materials to offer aftercare for addictions and wellness programs. Ongoing maintenance, expansion and security can be provided locally. If qualified counsellors are in the community, they can be part of staff. Elders, accredited by Indigenous government bodies, can provide cultural guidance and support. 
These three areas—facility maintenance and construction, wellness counselling and cultural expertise—can have training components, drawing candidates from participants and engaged community members.

Such community-level opportunities exist in food security (provision of local meat and fish), education (cultural curriculum), trades literacy for public housing, even admin support and mentoring with local governments. Use local wood cutters to replace fuel oil for biomass heat.

As the capacity in the community grows, regional centers—Hay River, Inuvik, Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Norman Wells and Behchokǫ̀—can begin building support hubs servicing the communities near them. Yellowknife will benefit from in-territory conferences and meetings at a territorial level with the goal of recovering dollars from the countless meetings held in southern centres. As Yellowknife builds its venue and service credentials for Indigenous delegates, dollars can be captured now going to southern centres like Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. 

Tell voters more about yourself. What languages do you speak?

English.

Do you live in your riding? If not, why did you decide to run there?

Yes.

If elected, will you seek a cabinet position?

If asked but only on the condition they commit to the platform of healing, housing and education.

Would you consider the premiership, if elected?

If asked but only on the condition they commit to the platform of healing, housing and education.

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Why are you running for office?

Before running for city council, my career and volunteer work was focused on advocating for policy change from outside government. The topics I’ve always been passionate about include: poverty, homelessness, human rights, Indigenous self-determination, climate change, and clean energy. 

During my two terms on city council, I enjoyed the challenge of being in a decision-making role and understanding government better from the inside. I loved the opportunities to connect with diverse groups of people. It was “character-building” for me, in a good way. It has tested and strengthened my personal mantra that I do not need everyone to like me or agree with me, but I do want my decisions to be respected. I aim to respectfully consider all different perspectives, align my opinion with key values and priorities, and then be transparent in explaining my rationale.

City council is a part-time role that I was juggling alongside four other jobs, and I began to crave more time to devote to researching and following up on each particular issue. Many key issues facing the city, such as homelessness and the housing shortage, are closely intertwined with the territorial mandate, and it was frustrating to come up against GNWT roadblocks and underfunding.

I am eager to dive into a full-time leadership position and channel my energy into addressing urgent territory-wide issues such as housing, health care, education and energy systems. Every time I am tempted to get fed up and throw stones at the GNWT for one of its many failures, I remember someone I know who works in that department who is smart and dedicated, and trying hard. I want to focus on how we can better harness their talent and expertise. This territory has so much potential if we focus on building up our people and working together.

What experience would you bring to the role of MLA?

I have been a two-term city councillor (2015-2022), chair of Yellowknife’s Community Advisory Board on Homelessness, board member with the Yellowknife Women’s Society and independent consultant/facilitator. You may also know me as a veteran snow castle crew member, piano teacher, on-the-land educator, and clean energy advocate with the northern office of the Pembina Institute. For the past 14 years, I have done planning support work for Indigenous communities across the N.W.T., so I have a broad understanding of political dynamics and challenges in the territory.

What is the biggest issue facing the territory right now?

We need to focus on building up our people. We need to direct limited government resources to strengthening the foundations of healthy individuals, communities and economies:

• Prioritize investments in affordable housing (new and repairs) to support both workforce needs (essential services and local businesses) and the underhoused population (additional transitional housing with wrap-around supports)
• Build a skilled, healthy workforce, starting from early childhood education all the way up to post-secondary programs training northerners for critical roles in health care, education, trades, land stewardship, and tourism
• Improve access to primary health care through better retention of doctors and nurses
• Commit serious resources into best practices in addiction prevention, treatment and harm reduction
• Build energy systems that are clean, efficient and affordable, in partnership with other levels of government

What is the biggest issue in your riding?

Yellowknife North is a diverse riding — it spans from Old Town, to parts of the downtown, to Niven, to the Ingraham Trail. It includes diverse businesses — airlines, some of Yellowknife’s most iconic restaurants and pubs, architectural firms, and tourism operators, to name a few. I have lived in Old Town since I moved north 15 years ago, and (while I may be biased) I find it the most enchanting and dynamic neighbourhood in the world, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

Fun facts about Yellowknife North: it houses almost a third of the city’s entrepreneurs, and 22 per cent of residents reported speaking both English and French. Francophones can find both my website and brochure translated en français.

All of this is to say, there is no one single biggest issue in the riding, and as MLA I would commit to be available to listen and try to understand everyone’s situations and concerns.

What needs the most improvement in how the GNWT operates?

As I talk to people working in all different departments of the GNWT about what is working well and what the challenges are, I have found some common themes. The reality is that no initiative will flourish, no hopeful vision will be realized, until we rebuild certain decision-making structures, leadership approaches, and workplace environments. Many people working within the GNWT are smart, dedicated, and unbelievably frustrated. I do not believe government has to be this way. 

I know from my work on city council that systemic change can be scary for both bureaucracies and citizens, but it is also necessary and possible, with a compassionate approach that considers all perspectives and invites everyone to be part of solutions. I have seen governance become much more effective when politicians and administration learn to trust and respectfully challenge one another.

Some of the systemic changes I would advocate for as an MLA would be:

• Focus on producing integrated outcomes, rather than endlessly cycling through processes
• Cultivate GNWT workplaces that incentivize all staff to engage in creative problem-solving and collaboration toward clear, tangible goals
• Encourage senior leadership to move ahead boldly with initiatives and learn from mistakes rather than getting immobilized by fear of criticism or dissent
• Challenge the “Yellowknife versus the communities” mentality by focusing on common interests and effective collaboration between the GNWT, Indigenous governments, the City of Yellowknife, non-profits and industry
• Break down “silos” by making all of cabinet and senior leadership equally accountable on cross-cutting priorities through their mandates, and by integrating lenses of harm reduction, mental health, reconciliation, and climate change into all initiatives

If you could accomplish only one thing while in office, what would it be?

We need to create significantly more affordable, decent housing in every community, in all parts of the housing spectrum, including market housing, public housing and supportive group housing for the underhoused population. It seems obvious this a priority concern for every community in the N.W.T. and it is also a funding priority for the federal government. We need to move beyond squabbling and competition for funds, and find a way to make a sizeable dent in this problem. This seems so incredibly doable and necessary.

What would you do as MLA to improve the GNWT’s relationship with Indigenous governments?

Some important processes have already been set in place by this last assembly, such as UNDRIP legislation and the Council of Leaders, to ensure decision-making processes better respect Indigenous and treaty rights. I would still urge better collaborative processes be set in place for areas with unsettled land claims, such as the Akaitcho and regions that have chosen not to sign on to devolution, which are currently being excluded from important tables (such as the Dehcho).

Settling land claims remains a priority as it is fundamental on so many levels — it opens up opportunities for economic investment, it allows for better long-term land use planning and environmental stewardship, it allows for more local control over housing and social programs, such as on-the-land healing, and it enables communities to set their own priorities and direction.

Indigenous governments have their own direct relationship to the Crown, and have been negotiating federal funding agreements on things like housing and land stewardship. The GNWT may be able to play a supportive role, but would sometimes be best to just get out of the way instead of intervening with its own timelines and agendas.

I have taken part in many discussions and planning sessions in northern Indigenous communities over the past 15 years where the resounding message has been: more action, less talk. The small community staff teams seem to be drowning in never-ending meetings. As MLA, I would advocate that GNWT efforts at collaboration need to be focused, action-oriented, and acknowledge and build upon past decades of similar consultations.

What should the territory do to address the impacts of climate change?

It seems obvious after this summer of wildfires that we need much better emergency preparedness — especially detailed emergency plans for each facility and one for the protection of vulnerable populations.

In terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we’ve had a relatively scatter-gun approach, investing in a big variety of projects and not necessarily targeting the highest sources of emissions. We need to prioritize and focus our investments, find the confluence between highest emissions — currently long-haul transportation and space heating — along with what we have reasonable control over, and which opportunities allow communities to manage and control their own energy systems. In Yellowknife, the most impactful opportunities relate to district biomass heating for clusters of large buildings — the city has completed a framework but it will take partnerships to make this happen.

What should the GNWT do to grow the territory’s economy?

First and foremost, I think we need to change our idea of what “economy” is. It is not the things we take out of the ground for export or numbers on a big corporation’s balance sheet. Our economy is essentially our people, and their wellbeing. About 80 per cent of the GNWT’s budget comes from federal grants and transfer payments; funding levels are based on our population size. 

Over the last 25 years, we have failed to fully capitalize on the opportunities presented by the diamond mines. Cumulatively over that period, only 47.5 per cent of mine employees have been N.W.T. residents, and by 2022 only 37 per cent were residents. 

In reading economic reports and speaking with members of the business community, I have heard loud and clear that the biggest challenge facing N.W.T. businesses is a shortage of workers. Other important sectors of our economy, such as health care and education, also face critical worker shortages, and this cripples our ability to ensure our population is trained and well enough to work, thus perpetuating the cycle. A robust workforce would also require more affordable housing units and more childcare spaces. 

My economic plan would focus on increasing the supply of decent, affordable housing; investing more in early childhood education; better recruitment and retention of health care workers; more holistic mental health care and addictions treatment; and improving training opportunities in the trades, health care, education, social work, land stewardship and tourism.

This is not the first time mines in the N.W.T. are shutting down, and it will not be the last—that is the nature of non-renewable resource extraction. The point is to cultivate a workforce that is healthy, skilled, resilient and flexible in responding to shifting opportunities. The GNWT can do a much better job at working with industry to help transition mine workers into related trades that are in desperately high demand, such as housing construction and repair. Our economic future will never be grim if we build up our people.

Tell voters more about yourself. What languages do you speak?

English and some French (not fully bilingual).

Do you live in your riding? If not, why did you decide to run there?

Yes, since I moved to Yellowknife I have always lived in Old Town.

If elected, will you seek a cabinet position?

I am open to this and believe I could serve a useful role in cabinet. Regardless, my priority is to ensure the assembly as a whole remains focused and works together productively.

Would you consider the premiership, if elected?

This is a very important position and honour. Even if I am never presented with such an opportunity, I want to become someone with enough knowledge and experience that I could fulfil that role with integrity.