New Monfwi MLA vows to speak Tłı̨chǫ in N.W.T. Legislature

New Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong, who was sworn into her new role this week, said she will speak Tłı̨chǫ in the Northwest Territories Legislature when making speeches and addresses.

Weyallon Armstrong, who is fluent in Tłı̨chǫ, will represent the four Tłı̨chǫ communities of Behchokǫ̀, Whatì, Wekweètì and Gamètì when the legislature next meets in mid-October. 

"I will be using my language," she told CBC.

During her swearing in, she said she felt emotional. 

"I feel relief now that I got sworn in. And it's a bit emotional," she said. "I thought about my late parents, and I thought about our ancestors. Because if it wasn't for them, we would not be here."

She said being elected for the role meant her constituents needed change.

"That's what it means for the elders and for all the people here, is that change was needed," she said.

"I'm gonna do the work with them and be their voice."

She said she was told that it's also a "big accomplishment" for young people to see a woman in the position.

Housing and social issues are the "two most important issues" that she plans to focus on, Weyallon Armstrong said, as well as issues brought forward by her constituents.

And, Weyallon Armstrong said, she won't be doing her role alone.

"I'm going to be needing the people's help. And I'm going to be needing the MLAs help, you know, we're all going to do it together," she said.

Jackson Lafferty, the former MLA for the riding, was one of the few N.W.T. MLAs to regularly speak an Indigenous language in the house. During the Aurora College president debacle, he asked for the house to be shut down because there was no Tłı̨chǫ language interpreter in the legislature that day.

When he stepped down as MLA, he said he hoped his passion for the Tłıchǫ and other Indigenous languages would be remembered, and carried on, by the members that follow. 

Weyallon Armstrong is the first woman to ever hold the Monfwi riding and her victory marks a historic change — the N.W.T. Legislative Assembly now has a majority of MLAs who are women, which is a first in Canada. The territory already had the highest proportion of women legislators in Canada, when nine out of 19 seats were won by women candidates in October of 2019.