Early figures show the 2019 election’s voter turnout was a full ten per cent higher than in 2015—at 54 per cent. The last time voter turnout was over 50 per cent was in 2007, when 67 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballot. Much of the jump can be…
A record-setting 9 women will be part of the 19th Legislative Assembly, according to unofficial results from Elections NWT. Lesa Semmler, who won the Inuvik Twin Lakes constituencies, told reporters last night, “We don’t want to be given our seats, we will earn them, we are not token women.” Joining…
Monday evening saw round two of Dene Nahjo’s election forum and featured Frame Lake candidates: Dave Ramsay and Kevin O’Reilly; Yellowknife Centre candidates: Julie Green, Thom Jarvis, Arlene Hache and Niels Konge; and for Range Lake: Caroline Cochrane and Hughie Graham. As in the first forum, the themes of the…
Land. Language. Culture. Those are the themes at Dene Nahjo’s election forum that kicked off on Sunday evening. The first forum featured all three candidates from Yellowknife North: Rylund Johnson, Jan Vallilee, and incumbent Cory Vanthuyne; both candidates for Great Slave: Patrick Scott and Katrina Nockleby; and only two candidates…
A former Northwest Territories cabinet minister says the incoming legislative assembly must do a better job settling land claim agreements with Indigenous governments as well as speed up the self-government process. However, Fort Smith businessman Michael Miltenberger says anyone who thinks working on these issues with the federal government would…
Dene National Chief Norman Yakeleya says he was “shocked” and “disappointed” at seeing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in brownface makeup. But he added if you look at the broader institution of the federal government, it wasn’t so surprising. “Ever since the Europeans first stepped on our country, our lands,” said…
Willard Hagen has resigned as the deputy minister of Lands for the Northwest Territories. Hagen, originally from Inuvik, had been the Lands department’s top bureaucrat since he was appointed to the position in May 2016. It comes after Hagen directed a Facebook comment at Kevin O’Reilly, the incumbent MLA for…
Indigenous voters in Yellowknife will have a chance to hear what candidates for MLA in the city have to say about issues affecting them at the upcoming Dene Nahjo Election Forum. According to organizer Dëneze Nakehk’o this important forum will be will be an Indigenous led political discussion highlighting land,…
Few people embody the tension and different possibilities for the territory’s future like the two MLA candidates running in the riding of Frame Lake. Incumbent Kevin O’Reilly has spent his time as an MLA skeptical of multi-million dollar infrastructure projects geared towards attracting the extractive industry. His counterpart Dave Ramsay…
The constituency of Great Slave is one of six ridings that has only two candidates this territorial election, and it’s expected to be a close race between retired videographer, now cafe owner Patrick Scott, and consulting engineer Katrina Nokleby. This riding is mostly residential, and covers most of downtown Yellowknife,…