Profile: Mahalia Yakeleya Newmark and a family tradition of care

Mahalia Yakeleya Newmark comes from a long line of caregivers.

Her great-grandmother, Harriett Gladue, was a midwife who lived in the bush. “One of the stories I would hear is that they’d be out in the bush, and then they would hear the bells on the dog team coming, and so they would know that there was somebody who was coming — maybe it was the husband or a family member — because somebody was ready to give birth,” she says.

Her grandmother interpreted and cared for patients at the local health centre, all while raising nine children as a single mother.

Now, Yakeleya Newmark wants to pass on that tradition.

It all started when she had children of her own. “Becoming a mom has really opened my eyes and, I think, actually made my heart bigger,” she says.

In particular, she says motherhood has made her think about homeless youth in a new way. “It’s hard for me to imagine being a young person, still in high school, and having to think about things that are so big, like, where do you sleep? And how do you get enough food? Or how do you get enough money for food?”

Now, Yakeleya Newmark and her mother volunteer at least once a month with Home Base Yellowknife, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting youth in Yellowknife. “We cook together, and we bring food — one of the things I learned is that a lot of the youth don’t get to eat homemade food, and they don’t get to eat traditional or country foods,” she says.

Yakeleya Newmark and her sister Kalina also founded Strong People, Strong Communities, a collective of artists that create murals. So far, Yakeleya Newmark estimates they have supported nearly a dozen murals. “We think murals and creating are incredible vehicles for social justice, and for sharing messages of hope and power and beauty and brilliance,” she says.

“Here in the North, if we want to see something in our community, oftentimes we’re the ones who have to do it.”

For Yakeleya Newmark, motherhood is also a chance to carry on her family’s tradition of care, giving her children opportunities her parents and grandparents, as Residential School survivors, didn’t have. “Really, I’m the first generation to grow up in my own home, to be loved and to be parented and have my mom cook me food,” she says. Often, her two young children come with her to volunteer.

This year, at the annual NWT Premier’s Awards, Yakeleya Newmark was awarded the Kristine McLeod Emerging Indigenous Leader Award for “[demonstrating] exceptional initiative and commitment to the principles of public service.”

For Yakeleya Newmark, it always comes back to her Elders. “I always think about my grandmothers, especially when I feel scared or nervous, and I think about them standing right beside me and giving me that guidance.”