The 2023 candidates: Great Slave

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.

• James Lawrance
• Kate Reid
• Katrina Nokleby
• Stacie Arden Smith

James Lawrance

Why are you running for office?

I have the time, experience, knowledge and skills to contribute to the assembly and to represent Great Slave district residents.

What experience would you bring to the role of MLA?

I have worked for Aboriginal governments, the territorial government, and the federal government over four decades on Aboriginal rights and treaties, resource management, constitutional development, and political evolution of the territory.

As a senior and chief negotiator and implementer for many key agreements, I have had access to the inner workings of the governments over all facets and flaws.

Additionally, I was secretary of the Montessori board executive for several years, beginning in 2005. I was a member, then chairman, of the city heritage committee for several years in the '90s. I have lived in Yellowknife since 1986, almost exclusively in the riding. I have lived in the Northwest Territories since I was nine.

What is the biggest issue facing the territory right now?

Adaptation to change on multiple (often interlinked) fronts: climate, food supply, resource commodity and labour markets, un-paced technological advances, national political and economic imperatives, lagging educational systems, an aging population, and global challenges to democratic and social values.

What is the biggest issue in your riding?

On a day-to-day basis affordability of housing and related cost of living challenges.

On a political basis improving the effectiveness of the Legislative Assembly.

On a project basis the polytechnic university proposal.

What needs the most improvement in how the GNWT operates?

• Avoiding unnecessary legal battles and costs.
• Establishing collaborative community improvement projects with Indigenous governments.
• Trimming discretionary internal spending and reducing the costs of the workforce at upper management and senior levels.
• Employee training about the territory and who they serve, and the adoption of Aboriginal phrases into government-speak.
• Political education of the public, and more efforts to grow the Aboriginal workforce.

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

Structure and formalize a more effective "loyal opposition"-type challenge and accountability function by "ordinary" MLAs and revive public discussion of constitutional-type solutions to integrating the territorial, municipal and Aboriginal governments to clarify and rationalize responsibilities and accountabilities.

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

Draw upon and offer my decades of proven success in this area.

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

Protect infrastructure and develop a food security plan.

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

Support much enhanced mineral exploration and mine development and prepare to take a fair share of the reclamation industry. Educate residents to take the professional jobs private and public.

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

English, French intermediately.

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

I do.

If elected, will you seek a cabinet position?

I will prefer to be an MLA providing the challenge function.

Would you consider the premiership, if elected?

It's not an impossibility, but my preference has been stated.

Kate Reid

Why are you running for office?

I grew up in Yellowknife during a time of economic uncertainty and hardship and see families and working people facing the same difficult circumstances and hard choices I experienced then.

I don't want people to have to face those same struggles, and I am running in Great Slave to help make our community a place where people feel financially secure, have a real say in the decisions that affect them, enjoy meaningful lives and social connections through arts and culture, and have access to locally produced goods and services for more of their needs.

People need a government that cares and an MLA who is focused on fostering community, on lifting people up by working to strengthen the social fabric connecting us and making sure that the government is acting and thinking in ways that genuinely put people and communities first.

What experience would you bring to the role of MLA?

Running for MLA for Great Slave is about taking my commitment to community service to a new level. I grew up in the riding, and currently reside here with my husband and two dogs.

Since returning north after graduate school 14 years ago, I've been active in our community in several volunteer roles, most recently as president of YWCA NWT and president of UNW Local 40. My work history in the N.W.T. includes time spent as a journalist, NGO executive director, library clerk, archivist, legal affairs adviser, communications adviser, and most recently, a senior policy analyst with the GNWT's Department of Environment and Climate Change.

What is the biggest issue facing the territory right now?

The biggest issue facing the territory is what I'm hearing most in the riding as I knock doors cost of living. It's skyrocketing and even folks working good jobs are having trouble making ends meet.

Working people deserve fair wages that ensure they can have a decent standard of living, and people without or between jobs need to be treated with dignity and respect. Government needs to be there for N.W.T. residents, protecting the rights of workers and seriously considering new and better approaches for helping people meet their financial needs, like guaranteed basic income projects.

What is the biggest issue in your riding?

As above I've knocked on a good number of doors in the last week, and what I'm hearing right now is that the number one issue is cost of living. Regular, everyday expenses are crushing folks out there.

What needs the most improvement in how the GNWT operates?

The core issue that I see is that the GNWT is telling and not listening. Government needs to be responsive to the needs and issues that actually matter to the people they govern, not consumed with plans and strategies developed in a backroom to continue the status quo. The status quo isn't working any more.

The role of government should be to support communities by paying attention to residents and to be guided by their priorities, concerns and needs. Government should spend less time defending and supporting old policies and processes and spend more time listening to residents, so it can start offering the kinds of programs and services that match the needs and priorities residents say they have. This also includes fixing public engagement processes so that residents' views are actually taken into account, as well as making sure that public engagement reports (or "what we heard" reports) adequately explain why feedback was or was not used.

I think also, to round out this approach, we need to enable the public service to serve the public. This means taking a good, long, hard look at how the government functions and where it doesn't and moving toward a client service model that enables continued improvement.

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

If I could pie-in-the-sky it,I would like for the N.W.T. to pilot a guaranteed basic income program, funded by Canada,to ensure no one gets left behind. A program like this would ensure everyone is at the point where they have the dignity to afford a place to call home, put food on the table, and other basic necessities, thereby allowing the space for everyone to make good choices. More folks could choose to go back to school, volunteer, care for ill family members, and more. It would scale based on your income, and replace income assistance. It could also mean that the GNWT could save dollars currently put toward subsidies and redirect them to other priorities of need.

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

Much like my answer around how the GNWT can improve operations, put simply, the GNWT should work to support Indigenous governments by paying attention to what they tell us they need and want to see. We are starting to see improvements in collaboration through partnership approaches to land and resource legislation within the Intergovernmental Council. I think this commitment to partnership needs to find a baseline across all departments, as consistency in approach often seems scattered and issue-based.

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

I think that a greater emphasis should be put on adaptation to climate change impacts in all areas of public life housing, transportation, energy needs and health care being most critical. We've also seen this past summer that preparation for emergencies due to climate change needs strategic resourcing to ensure we are better prepared for future disasters.

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

First and foremost to listen to small businesses' needs. Buy local isn't just a slogan, it's a northern way of life. During the pandemic, we saw how fragile supply chains can be. Spending more locally means that we support our neighbours with our dollars as well as our kinship, helping to grow local businesses and jobs. Economies that produce more of their own goods and services are more sustainable and do a better job of meeting community needs.

The GNWT seems to spend a lot of time chasing major projects exclusively and trying to grow territorial GDP without a lot of success. I think it's time for a shift in focus that sees the GNWT investing more of its attention and resources to supporting and growing local businesses, where its efforts will have more of a direct positive payoff for N.W.T. residents.

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?

I do.I live in the home I grew up in.

If elected, will you seek a cabinet position?

It is impossible to state this unequivocally without getting to know the other people who are elected, and getting to know their strengths and skill sets. However, my preference is to stand as a regular MLA.

Would you consider the premiership, if elected?

No.

Katrina Nokleby

Why are you running for office?

I want to be the MLA for Great Slave because I love to help people. I want to continue to be a strong voice and advocate for the residents of the N.W.T. who have generously shared their stories with me. I enjoy solving problems and a good challenge and I know I have a lot to offer when it comes to devising innovative and efficient solutions to the N.W.T.'s many issues.

What experience would you bring to the role of MLA?

The last four years of being an MLA has been one of the steepest learning curves of my life. For the last two assemblies, we have seen a high turnover of seats with many new MLAs each time. I can really see how this turnover led to much of the turmoil of those two assemblies, with a real lack of mentorship and leadership for new MLAs in the 19th. It's my hope to change that by returning to the House where I can ensure a smoother transition period and continuity to the new government.

I want to provide mentorship to new MLAs both from a process and procedure perspective, but also to support them from a mental wellbeing perspective, as you cannot truly understand this role until you are in it.

I also have over 13 years of northern consulting work as a geological engineer prior to entering politics that allows me to bring a unique, science-based voice to the assembly.

What is the biggest issue facing the territory right now?

This is a toss-up for me between housing and health care, with housing slightly taking the lead since we can't increase the number of health-care professionals if we don't have anywhere for them to live. As an MLA, constituents who approached our office were pretty evenly split between the two issues.

What is the biggest issue in your riding?

The polytechnic university on Tin Can Hill. I raised the issue of site selection criteria and the lack of community engagement many times in the 19th Assembly with the minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and never received a satisfactory response. Utilizing this site will cause traffic issues for School Draw Avenue and Copper Sky apartments, as well as lead to the gentrification of several apartments in my riding.

I propose that the GNWT explore the capital site between the assembly and the Jackfish power plant instead. Future expansion could occur around Frame Lake toward the hospital with the Akaitcho being the ultimate landlords of the future parts of the university.

What needs the most improvement in how the GNWT operates?

The GNWT needs to adopt an integrated service delivery approach in all communities with proper training for employees on delivering client services from a trauma-informed perspective. Additionally, they must stop companies from gaming the procurement system and reduce sole source contracting to former bureaucrats.

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

Build the Mackenzie Valley Highway all the way to Inuvikto improve our supply chain issues and create employment and tourism opportunities. Even loftier would be to connect all of our communities by road such that there would be redundancies in the supply chain and two methods of egress from each community for evacuation during emergencies.

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

I'd continue to sit down and converse with Indigenous leaders, elders and youth wherever I go, no matter what I'm doing. Long before I ever thought of running for office, I'd always engage and chat with locals whenever I was travelling in communities for work. Whether I was waiting at the airport in Tulita, or having lunch at the Nahanni Inn in Fort Simpson, I've always spoken with people and listened to the stories they are willing to share with me.

It has been through this openness and willingness to listen to the Indigenous people of this territory that I feel I can best bridge the gap between the assembly, the GNWT, and the Indigenous governments. I believe my member's statements and voting record in the 19th Assembly show the deep commitment I have to ensuring the true keepers of this land, Denendeh, thrive and prosper as they deserve to.

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

The GNWT needs to conduct a comprehensive risk assessment on all of the infrastructure assets in the N.W.T. with respect to climate change. They could utilize the PIEVC Protocol that would allow them to identify and prioritize higher-risk components and the nature of the threat to them. This information could then be used to form the basis for proposals to access federal infrastructure money or disaster mitigation funding on behalf of communities that are currently being left on their own with no resources and limited capacity to cope with climate emergencies.

The GNWT also must develop a proper, dynamic (i.e. a living document) emergency response plan that includes a variety of possible scenarios with action plans to respond toor mitigatethem. This plan would include regular training and practice drills, with contracts in place through which contractors already know their roles and pricing is predetermined.

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

The resource exploration and extraction sector continues to be the number one driver of the N.W.T. economy and we must support it. The GNWT should push for a North of 60 mining tax credit from Canada with project-specific assistance to northern critical mineral projects once it's provided. We need to build all-weather roads to support the supply chain and facilitate the transport of metal and mineral concentrates. Also, the GNWT needs to provide green, renewable energy to reduce costs and improve the image of the sector.

For better certainty and efficiency we must advance land claims and Indigenous reconciliation so that the owners of the land are true partners in any development or extraction and receive maximum benefits in the forms of jobs and impact benefit agreements. The GNWT should work with the Mine Training Society to develop a workforce plan that incorporates the proper training and educational programs to ensure N.W.T. residents are capable of taking the higher paying skilled labour and professional jobs on mine sites.

Finally, we should invest in innovation and research to expand the life of the current mines and to reduce the costs of future exploration and mining projects.

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

Unfortunately I only speak English but hope to change that in the coming years by joining the Indigenous Language mentorship program.

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

I have lived in my home in my riding since 2009.

If elected, will you seek a cabinet position?

If elected I do not plan to run for cabinet or premier, but as one constituent told me, never say never.

Would you consider the premiership, if elected?

No.

Stacie Arden Smith

Why are you running for office?

As I look to the future, I envision the Northwest Territories desperately in need of guidance and solidarity. The uncertainty surrounding the legacy we pass on to our children is disheartening. Our economy has reached a standstill and the changing environment only adds to the hardships our residents endure. I do not claim to be a hero, but I do pledge to fight for the people and advocate for a future that is filled with clarity and purpose.

When I think of my own children, I hope they have abundant opportunities to flourish in life. I am certain that I am not alone in desiring a brighter outcome for our territory. One issue that deeply resonates with me is including Indigenous people at the table. I am passionate about addressing these challenges head-on. I firmly believe that investing in our people is the key to improving our system.

What experience would you bring to the role of MLA?

I bring five years in municipal politics, 13 years as a business owner, an educational background in commerce and visual arts and many years of experience serving on boards: the community advisory board, the heritage committee, Music NWT, Festival on Franklin and the Taekwondo Association of the NWT.

What is the biggest issue facing the territory right now?

Mental health and addictions are at the forefront. These issues not only affect the individual suffering, but they affect family and friends. The health of our residents affects our economy, our education. It affects how we interact with one another.

What is the biggest issue in your riding?

In going door to door, the top two issues I have heard repeatedly are housing and addictions.

What needs the most improvement in how the GNWT operates?

The communication between departments. Each has their own set of priorities that often do not jive with the next, thus creating a divide when addressing solutions.

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

I would address the way our system responds to Indigenous people within the system and how rehabilitation and recovery are delivered. To be able to reach our people in their struggles you need to know where they have been. Indigenous wellness is fundamentally important. Stepping back from the colonial programming to re-introduce traditional healing, counselling and medicine.

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

My advocacy for Indigenous people is why I began my journey on the political stage. To be part of the conversation, to include those that should also be at the table, will positively alter the mindset of our government. Diversity in perspectives is important.

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

We need to expand our discussions to our elders. There are few left and we are missing the opportunity to learn from them. Indigenous people have resided here longer than memory can serve, we have seen the changing of the land and these recollections have been passed down from generation to generation. It is knowledge that should not be ignored.

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

For decades, the economy of the Northwest Territories has heavily relied on mining and minerals. However, with the industry experiencing a slowdown, it is crucial for the region to shift its focus toward other abundant resources.

Two promising sectors that hold immense potential are tourism and harnessing solar energy. Both of these industries can flourish in the N.W.T., generate numerous job opportunities and stimulate economic growth as these sectors thrive, the demand for housing will increase, leading to additional employment opportunities in construction and related fields. This diversification of the economy will not only help mitigate the impact of the shut down of the mining industry, but will also pave the way for a more sustainable future for the North.

In addition to exploring new industries, it is imperative that we acknowledge and support the existing businesses that have been grappling with the challenges posed by COVID and the wildfire season. These businesses are in dire need of assistance, both in terms of financial aid and incentive opportunities. By providing them with the necessary support we can help rejuvenate the existing market, ensuring their survival and contribution to our overall economic recovery of the region.

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

English.My French has become very rusty over the years.

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

I live in the Great Slave riding

If elected, will you seek a cabinet position?

If elected I would consider a cabinet position. This decision would be based on the other elected officials and their backgrounds, it is about who would do the work justice.

Would you consider the premiership, if elected?

If elected I would not seek the seat of the premiership. I have much to learn before that seat would be in my sights.