Meet the candidates in N.W.T.'s Monfwi byelection

Northwest Territories residents in the Monfwi constituency are headed to the polls on July 27 to vote on who will replace Jackson Lafferty as the riding's MLA. The constituency includes the communitiesofBehchok, Gamt, What, and Wekwet.

Lafferty announced last month that he would be stepping down from his post in the legislatureto run to be the next Tch grand chief.

Jon Gon, James Wah-Shee, Jane Weyallon Armstrong and Kelvin Kotchilea are competing to replace him as Monfwi's representative to the territory.

CBC asked each candidate about their qualifications to run for office and their priorities if elected.

Some answers have been edited for lengthand clarity.

Jon Gon

A former broadcaster with CBC, Behchok resident Jon Gon says he has been in the communication business since the late 80s. Since retiring his microphone, Gon has focused on operating his production company, First North Productions which he says has brought him face to face with issues at the community level. He lists housing and economic development as his biggest priorities.

Why did you decide to run?

As the owner manager of First North Productions, providing audio video services, I do a lot of work with the government and it gets me out to all these communities. I attend meetings where I hear a lot of concerns and a lot of issues in the communities. WhenLafferty resigned, I decided it was time to step up and see if I can help my communities.

What do you see as the biggest issue in your riding?

Housing is at a critical point, let's take Behchok, for example. There are 40 to 50 houses which are abandoned or boarded up, in need of repairs, just sitting there and not doing anything. Why aren't we addressing this problem? We should be fixing up these houses.

Just recently, the Tch government announced that they were going to be building 10 new units. This is all happening while the NWT Housing Corporation is sitting on sixty million dollars. It's been sitting there for the last couple of years while people are moving from family couch to another family couch.

How would you address the issue of housing?

I know there's more money available with individuals and corporations and I want to be a strong advocate for that.I hear the same thing every year. I go to meetings, city assemblies and hear the same thing, the government is not doing enough, nothing to help the local people. So maybe I can make a change. That's what I thought, I want to make a change. I really want to help to help the local people improve their lives.

What do you see as the biggest issue in the territory?

Economic development is a big issue, along with job creationand a treatment centre. I know it's been brought up a number of times by our former MLA Jackson Lafferty, and that's a big issue. He even suggested that we should take the income from marijuana sales and put it toward building a new treatment centre. Our people have no place to go when they want to seek rehabilitation from alcohol and drugs. They have to go down south and most people don't want to leave the territories. I know, for example, a member of my family has been trying to get into a treatment centre for a number of years and he's not able to do that because he doesn't want to leave the community.

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

Housing and homelessness, those are the number one priorities that I want to address in this campaign.

Why should voters choose you?

I'm promising that I will work on these critical issues and I will never give up until I am satisfied, and the people are satisfied, that these critical issues are addressed. That's what I want to do and that's what I'm promising to do.

Kelvin Kotchilea

Kelvin Kotchilea spent eight years as a renewable resources officer before returning to school to study finance. Prior to the start of his campaign, Kotchilea was employed by the territorial government as a finance officer. In addition to housing, Kotchilea is committed to skill building and education in Monfwi, as well as amending the ban on caribou hunting to provide residents with greater access to sustenance hunting.

Why did you decide to run?

With Lafferty's resignation on June 4, there were people asking what am I doing individually at this point in my life. I mentioned that I just recently graduated and am working as a finance officer for the Department of Education, Culture and Employmentand I laid out what I planned to do in the next two to four years.The individual said, "that's what we need in leadership today. Someone with a vision and goals." Over time I thought about it, and decided it was an opportunity for me to give back to my community using all the stuff I gained culturally as well as through academics.

What do you see as the biggest issue in your riding?

I'm advocating for another MLA seat for the Monfwi region for the island communities to have better representation. Because they're fly-in communities, they[What, Gamt and Wekwet]are isolated. I had that as one of my platforms, and I touched on housing, employment, education and the caribou ban.

Right now, I'm visiting the communities and going household to household. What constituents need and want is the priority because at the end of the day, MLAs have to listen to their constituents and start working toward their constituency needs versus having our own set of goals and ideas.

How would you address the issue of housing?

There's a lot of maintenance that needs to take place in housing units and it's very costly. The housing authority has to look at all communities. One is not more important than another. It has to be a fair process and properly divided based on population.

If there is public housing, it should mainly go to people that rely on income support programs and then people that are working in the communities should look at home ownership. This will free up some units, especially with a larger waiting list. There are some people that I already have spoken with that said they've been on a waiting list for two years, four years, and they haven't gotten a unit. So there is a housing crisis.

What do you see as being the biggest issue in the territory?

Some people, they move and don't come back, and it's because there is not a particular position available at the community and then maybe the housing wasn't in their favour. There are many reasons why people leave and we need a way to strengthen skills and qualifications and leadership at a community level to move forward.

I fell into situations that were difficult and I'm using this as an opportunity to give back and to try to create independence and strengthen the community.

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

Right now I'm still in the phase of collecting data from the people in my region, and it's not fair to really pick one.

I think of it as Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Once people feel their basic needs and psychological needs are met, they reach self-fulfilment, and that's how you move forward in life and that's how you find success. Ifbasicand psychological needs are not met, then you can't expect people to move forward in life. And that's how I'm looking at it with collecting data.

Why should voters choose you?

At the end of the day, voters have the right to choose their leader in any leadership position and the best advice I can give is to vote based on who meets your needs, your values and morals.

Out of all the four candidates, we all have talents, we all have gifts. And I wish them all the best of luck. Just vote for who you believe in, who stands up for what you believe in, and at the end of the day, the election will speak for itself.

James Wah-Shee

Jame Wah-Shee spent 12 years as MLA for the region now known as Monfwi up until 1984 while it was still considered the North Slave riding. Wah-Shee has been on the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Board for nine years, served as president of Dene Nation and is presently the speaker of the Tch Assembly of Tch Nation. If elected, Wah-Shee says his focus would be on strengthening government relations.

Why did you decide to run?

It's the ongoing issue of the implementation of our land claims and self-government with the three parties and implementing that claim. This has to be done in cooperation with the three parties, and so whoever is the MLA has to work very closely with the Tch government and the federal, so that would be my general focus and of course, the climate change and reconciliation. I am interested in the political evolution of the North.

What do you see as the biggest issue in your riding?

It's definitely housing and employment. We need more adult education forthe young people to go through upgrading and employment training. We need a lot of tradespeople in our communities and we need more employment opportunities.

My view is that we should have an economy based on being ecosystem friendly because climate change is here. We have to be protecting the environment. In the past we've been primarily focusing on resource development and that was certainly not ecosystem friendly. We ended up with a cleanup after the mines, which is being paid by the taxpayers. That is not the way to go.

What do you see as the biggest issue in the territory?

We have to address the economy and change the way we do business. I think we can all be creative. The pandemic changed our lifestyle across Canada. We have to look at the last year and consider lessons learned.

The other thing is that all the land claims in the North should be concluded.

That requires the cooperation of the territorialand federal governments. We cannot have negotiations going on and on for the next 50 years. Once it's concluded, I believe we should have a meeting between all Aboriginal governments andthe government of the Northwest Territories, perhaps it's time to take a look at a constitution for the North.

How would you address the issue of housing?

There was recently a federal announcement to allocate so many millions for housing in the Northwest Territories. Some of this money will go to the territorial government, and others will go to the Aboriginal self-governments. We've had problems with housing for a long time and I'm glad that the initiative from the federal government is in cooperation with Aboriginal governments.

I think wehave a long ways togo in trying to catch up. There's retrofitting, there's overcrowding in the housing that we have now. A lot of them require repairs, a lot of them have mould and so forth. It's not really healthy. I'm glad that it's finally being dealt with and as an MLA I intend to work with governments and other MLAson this issue.

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

Since this is a byelection, whoever wins has a little over 24 months.

My focus and interest would be to try to establish a really good line of communication, a working relationship between the territorial government and the Tch government, that includes the Tch community governments.

We need a better line of communication and regular consultation when the devolution takes place from Ottawa to the territorial government, it should be done in cooperation with all First Nations governments. I would like to see a reconciliation process being done between the government of the Northwest Territories and the Aboriginal First Nations.

Why should voters choose you?

It's important that the MLA represents the Monfwi riding to work in close cooperation with all the members of the Legislative Assembly andto have a close working relationship with the premier and the cabinet.And of course, it's important that I represent the best interests of the Tch citizens, the Tch nation, its government and institutions.

Jane Weyallon Armstrong

Jane Weyallon Armstrong has spent the last 25 years with the Tch Community Services Agency. She is the president of the territorial Native Women's Association and has worked as an education administrator.

Weyallon Armstrong emphasized the importance of providingMonfwi youth with more opportunities and resources to make the communities better for the future. If elected she said she would focus on housing, advocating for a treatment centre and amending the caribou ban.

Why did you decide to run?

There are a lot of issues that needto be addressed and some people say 'We don't know who to talk to.' It just feels like we're a forgotten people in the region. So as someone who listens to elders and youth, people in the community expressed their support for me.

I'm very vocal and they know that I will advocate on issues affecting them and the people in the region.

What do you see as the biggest issue in your riding?

There are a lot of issues, housing, social issues, but the most important one is the caribou issue. We rely heavily on caribou because it's our main diet and we use it for clothing.The ban on caribou hunting is a major concern.

The Tch self-government is a modern treaty and accordingly, our Tch agreement is not being recognized.

The caribou issues are with [Environment and Natural Resources]. Wedidn't make an agreement with them but they're the ones putting the boundary where people can go hunting and not go hunting. I'm going to look into that and report back to the people. I'm sure a lot of people would like to see that lifted. We understand about the decline but there are a lot of other stories from the elders, traditional knowledge, that needto be taken into consideration.

What do you see as the biggest issue in the territory?

We know that we have a lot of issues with young people with drugs and alcohol and because of that we have a lot of issues.

Throughout the Northwest Territories it's same thing. When I talk to people through my other work, they have the same issues with their young people, they're in a crisis situation as well involving drugs and alcohol. We need to do something about it. We need a treatment program. We need more on the land programs to help meet the needs of the people.

We need to work with the government and agencies that provide the program and services as well. We do need a program in place for our young people, because these young people are our future generations, they are future leaders and if we don't do anything for them now, what do you think it's going to be like in the future?

How would you address the issue of housing?

Work with the government, work with the housing corporation, advocate for the people and maybe change some of their policies. The policy now doesn't work for the people, it's working against the people.

The rent is too high and we can't get ahead financially because of that.

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

I said I would look into it and I'm going to report back to the people.

But the term is only for two years and I think that the crisis is with the housing. We have over 100 people on the wait list and because we don't have enough accommodation here, there are some households with 10 people and some of them because there's no housing, they move to Yellowknife. So housing, building more houses for young people and then for the homeless and for elders. Also housing repair programs, there are lots of houses that need to be repaired in our communities.

Why should voters choose you?

Because I live here and I do care about our community and the Tch region. This is our home, we're not going anywhere. Our language, our culture, our way of life, we need to preserve all that for a healthy tomorrow, for our kids. I am very passionate about our region.

For our people, especially the young people, we want things to get better. For so long, we've felt like we've been forgotten. Now it's about time we get all that back.