Women Achieve Parity in NWT Legislative Assembly Without Guaranteed Seats.

AuthorGreen, Julie

In just one general election the Northwest Territories went from having the least representation by women in its Assembly to the most in the country. Moreover, women MLAs were elected to fill four of six cabinet positions and to be the premier. In this article, the author suggests these dramatic changes are a response, in part, to a significant discussion and debate members of the previous legislative assembly undertook to improve women's participation and representation in the territory. She reviews the proposal for temporary special measures as a way to build representation, outlines other recommendations MLAs made to encourage more women to participate in territorial politics, and explains why this environment ultimately led many more women to put their names on the ballot in 2019.

When the revolution finally began, it was swift and decisive. On October 1, the Northwest Territories moved from having the least representation by women (11 per cent) to the most (47 per cent) in a Canadian legislature. The 19 Members of the 19th Assembly then elected a woman premier (the only one in Canada at the moment) and four women to Cabinet (out of six Members). The territorial legislature has no parties. Each candidate runs as an independent. Once elected, Members self-nominate for Executive Council positions; they are then elected by secret ballot by all Members.

The women elected are diverse. Six of the nine are Indigenous; two have small children and two have teenagers; one was chief of her First Nation; one is an engineer, another is a lawyer; one is a nurse, another is a self-government negotiator; two come from the nonprofit sector, and two were part of the territorial civil service. The women MLAs come from constituencies across the Northwest Territories from Inuvik above the Arctic Circle, to Fort Smith on the Alberta border.

This change, from being behind to being ahead in women's representation at the territorial government level, was not a fluke but the result of a consistent effort of Members of the 18th Assembly to improve the representation of women.

One of the priorities of the 18th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories was "supporting initiatives designed to increase the number of women running for elected office." The previous Speaker of the Legislative Assembly took up this challenge, along with our MLA colleagues. On International Women's Day 2018, Jackson Lafferty shared his vision: "We, as elected leaders of this...

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