A range of emotions on display as Yellowknife council bids farewell

“If you don’t agree, it’s fine. I won’t be in this chair much longer. It’s my privilege to waste your time right now.”
– Coun. Cat McGurk

One councillor cried, another decried capitalism and genocide, and the interim mayor — who would pull his nomination papers before 3 pm — offered a cryptic farewell as the city’s 17th City Council held its final regular meeting on Wednesday.

One word that was not mentioned in any of the non-Indigenous elected officials’ good-byes was Indigenous. Or for that matter, Métis or Inuit. Just a brief mention of colonialism, by one.

Council #17’s sole First Nations rep, Councillor Stacie Arden Smith, said it has not been an easy eight years.

“Being in this seat has been one of the loneliest roads I’ve had the pleasure of sitting in, being an Indigenous female,’ said Arden Smith, who is not seeking re-election and is now on staff at CKLB as a broadcaster and storyteller.

Arden Smith said during her two terms, the city went through a pandemic, followed by a wildfire evacuation.

She also endured some personal struggles, but in the end she and council, “leaned on one another to provide supports not only for one another, but for the community itself and it’s very humbling to see how we grew together.”

Councillor Garret Cochrane, who is Métis, said: “It’s been my absolute honour to be the first 2SLGBTQ+ plus male to do this.”

He continued: “I know that there will be others, but their representation does matter. When I was a kid, I didn’t see anybody look like me, anybody talk like me, or anybody think like me.

“I’m glad, at the very least, to have been a role model to somebody coming up who wants to do this because you can do this, you should do this, and if you have it in you, you must do it.”

Cochrane said democracy is about a representation of what this community is, not just the one segment, but all segments, whether it be Indigenous females, whether be developers, whether be policy nerds, whether be anyone.”

He then quoted from Jim Morrison and The Doors’ classic dirge, The End.

Councillor Cat McGurk prefaced her swan song by saying she had “some things I want to ramble on about that are important to me.”

The one-term rep added: “But if you don’t agree, it’s fine. I won’t be in this chair much longer. It’s my privilege to waste your time right now.”

McGurk, a Red Seal carpenter who championed the Makerspace facility, then tackled a couple of out-of-scope topics for a municipal council of a small Canadian city: capitalism and globalization.

“We live under capitalism. We live in a globalized society under the legacy of colonialism. Federal interests will always trump our own. The hoarding of wealth by a small group of individuals, has affected government systems around the world.

“We feed off the leavings of billionaires. I know people are scared of that word, and they like to pretend like we are not affected by it, and blame our financial struggles on something like the Aquatic Centre, which is one tool we use to combat the truly deadly consequences of seasonal depression, or important infrastructure updates, or services that improve daily life.

“Yellowknife is our home, for some, since time immemorial. Colonialism has torn at this place for so long … Encourage and empower social change. And for the love that is of all that is morally sensible, except our place in global society. And for me, that includes speaking out against genocide.

“And finally, someone who claims they will lower your taxes is either ignorant, intends to cut municipal services, or is actively lying to you.”

Some other final thoughts from councillors:

• Ryan Fequet (seeking re-election): “I just wanted to encourage the next council to be brave and be bold, look around the corners, at the risks, but also more importantly, the opportunities.”
• Rob Foote (seeking re-election): “What I’m most proud of, is not what we always agreed on. In fact, on many issues we didn’t. We debated development, transportation, budgets, etc. from a very different set of perspectives. What became apparent quickly is that those differences never prevented us from working together respectfully.”
• Tom McLennan: “I wanted to take my last some time at my last council meeting to strongly encourage staff and the next council to significantly reduce or eliminate the use of southern consultants. The millions of dollars spent to produce plans, strategies, and reports over the last decade or more has resulted in startlingly little practical impact for residents. The presence of many existing documents and the growth of AI tools mean that future studies, reports, and strategies are simply unnecessary. Most of the consultants the city hires have knowledge best applied to southern cities. We live in a unique and special place.”
• Rob Warburton (seeking re-election): Fighting back tears: “So we’ve been through a lot. We got in council, did a budget, and immediately went into a (municipal workers) strike. We had multiple communities evacuate into our town, and then we all left. And that’s what I want to recognize tonight is really the staff and the city. We talk policies and governance and plans and things … but the part that happens behind the scenes that affect everyone day to day — street clearing, snow clearing, those (water main) break guys are out at 45 below digging a hole — And tomorrow they do that again and again and again. You keep this place running, and you make us look good. So thank you.”
• Ben Hendriksen: “We’ll see what the next council brings. We’ve achieved a heck of a lot, and I’ll post about that in the next couple days or later tonight or something because we’ve achieved a lot, and it’s very easy to forget that sometimes there’s always more to do.”

Interim Mayor Ben Hendriksen pulled his nomination papers at some point Wednesday before the 3 pm cutoff, or his name would have been on the ballot for the October 19th election. The passionate attendee at conferences locally, across Canada and, indeed, the world, will take that taxpayer-funded knowledge to “non-elected work.”

Hendrikesen did keep his word to council, with a lengthy post to social media. This is what he had to say about Indigenous issues:

RECONCILIATION:

• ACTION: In collaboration with the Chiefs and Council of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, myself as Mayor and my City Council colleagues delivered on a long standing commitment to rename our main street in Yellowknife. For years to come Yellowknifers will now refer to Wıìlıìdeh Avenue.
• ACTION: Delivering on another commitment to the Indigenous Governments whom we work with closely, City Council updated our Land Acknowledgement.
• ACTION: While we didn’t manage to complete this in our term, City Administration will deliver a draft Indigenous Procurement Policy early in the term of the next Council for their consideration.

Here’s a link to Hendriksen’s full personal political post-mortem.