Why they run: Candidates on why N.W.T. politics needs more women

Nominations have yet to close but so far, more women have announced their intentions to run in the Northwest Territories election than in the two previous campaigns combined.  

With women occupying just two of 19 seats, the last Legislative Assembly had the smallest proportion of female members of anywhere in Canada.

But as of Wednesday morning, 20 women had stated publicly that they'd be seeking a seat and 15 of them had filed nomination papers. This represents a significant leap from the 2015 territorial election when 10 women ran, and from 2011, when just nine women sought seats. 

While their reasons for running are diverse, several female candidates agree that having more women in the legislature would help elevate social issues related to education, health care, child welfare and poverty. 

Women think differently, says candidate

"Women just have a different thought process — and that's not to suggest it's better — it's just different," said Jan Vallillee, a candidate in Yellowknife North. Vallillee, who has worked in information technology at Stanton Territorial Hospital for more than two decades, said women tend to think more about the well being of the most at-risk residents.

"Our homeless population, our most vulnerable — I think there'd be more of a conversation to help address that with more women at the table," she said.

Caroline Cochrane, a candidate for Range Lake and the only female cabinet minister in the previous Legislative Assembly, echoed these sentiments in a CBC interview last week.

She said the last government focused on infrastructure and jobs.

"I've heard many times in the assembly people say the best social program is a job," said Cochrane. "Women come from a different stance."

Women amplify issues like family violence and the need for child care, said Cochrane. "We'll look at things more holistically, and how any one thing happens, how it impacts the whole family."

'Women are the ones that are caring for the kids'

Lesa Semmler, who is running in Inuvik Twin Lakes, said family considerations may also hold women back from running for territorial office.

"A lot of times, women are the ones that are caring for the kids at home," she said.

It's especially difficult for women who live far from the capital city, she added, considering all the travel associated with being MLA.

Semmler, a nurse, has a 23-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter. Four years ago, she said, running a campaign wasn't a realistic option, but now her children are older and more independent.

That, and she took part in the Campaign School for Women, which aims to arm women with the knowledge they need to make a successful bid.

Campaign School for Women

With so few women in the N.W.T. legislature, territorial lawmakers adopted a motion in 2018 with the hope of increasing the percentage of female MLAs. They agreed to fund campaign schools for women, as well as leave for childbirth and adoption, and measures to lower the cost of campaigning.

Cherish Winsor, a senior communications adviser in the N.W.T. Department of Education, Culture and Employment and a candidate in Kam Lake, said it takes "a lot of encouragement before a woman will feel, necessarily, that she is ready to run."

Winsor said the workshops for prospective women politicians helped demystify campaigning.

'Not a one-issue gender'

Winsor, a single mother of five children, said the financial burden of a campaign can be another turnoff for women. 

"I have to take a month off of work, an unpaid leave, to campaign ... That's a huge financial sacrifice and not everybody can do that," she said. 

The prospect may be even more daunting to younger women with school-aged children, or children with special needs, she said.

To Winsor, swelling women's ranks would free up all members to push the issues that matter to them and their constituents. 

"When we have so little representation, we tend to have to speak on behalf of all women and take on all of the so-called female issues," she said. "If we have more women in those roles, then they're free to speak about their own issues, and what matters to them, specifically."

Bree Denning, executive director of the Yellowknife Women's Society, isn't running for territorial office, but said she doesn't want people to base their votes on a candidate's gender.

"We're not a one-issue gender," she said. "There are a lot of things that matter to a lot of different women."

At the same time, said Denning, women face certain threats that men do not, which is why it's vital to have them in the halls of power. 

"[We] really are moving on from a gender binary in society," said Denning, "but then you watch things like the erosion of women's rights under the Trump administration and you go, wait a second, this is something that could easily be lost if we're not paying attention."