Mary Rose Sundberg runs in Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh race, draws on family legacy of leadership 

Mary Rose Sundberg says decades of experience listening to community concerns as an interpreter in the N.W.T. Legislative Assembly and a family legacy of leadership will serve her constituents well if she wins the byelection for Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh on Feb 8.  

The seat was vacated by previous MLA Steve Norn, who was expelled after a public inquiry determined he had violated the Legislative Assembly's code of conduct when he broke mandatory COVID-19 self-isolation rules and misled the media about it. 

Sundberg was raised in Dettah and began working as a legislative interpreter in the Wiliideh (Wıı̀lıı̀deh Yatıı̀) language in the 1980s.

"As an interpreter, one of your jobs should be to always be connected to what's happening in your own community locally, on a territorial level, national level, international level," Sundberg said.  

"Because the more you have an understanding of any issue that's happening anywhere in the world or if it's locally… it makes your job easier."

She said she's been asked to run in the past but "never felt quite ready."

In addition to her work in language and culture, she's also got a decade of experience as a councillor with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation in Dettah, from 1996 right to 2019. 

She's also served on the board for the Det'on Cho Corporation and a district education authority. 

Sundberg said she learned to lead and serve from an early age, something that came from both sides of her family.

Her maternal grandfather, Joseph Sangris, served 32 years as a chief. Her grandfather on her father's side, Chief Jean (Madzii) Baptiste Drygeese, signed Treaty 8. 

"Both my grandfathers served with honesty and integrity, which they taught us, and I will serve with those skills as well," she said.

With her years of interpreter experience in the legislature, Sundberg said she already understands how things work during session, but has more to learn about how to work in committees. 

If elected, she would start with a review of community issues already raised in the legislature that may have fallen through the cracks. 

"A lot of rules and regulations of the government had, it doesn't fit into the community," she said. 

Sundberg said one important example of that is affordable housing and home ownership. 

"They have regulations in place where some people don't fit into that bracket. They either make too much money or not enough. Like this is just a tiny little opening that people qualify for." 

Due to the COVID-19 Omicron outbreak, Sundberg said she'll be campaigning on social media and by phone. 

She said she'll reach out to elders in all of the Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh communities by phone, in their languages. 

"In the other communities they speak Denesuline and I'm not fluent in that language," she said. "But I do understand. I can have a basic conversation with someone in the language, so I'm going to try my best." 

Sundberg said she wants to make sure they understand why the byelection is happening and how it will work, and she'll also answer questions about the rules around COVID-19. 

There are six candidates running in the byelection to represent the communities of Dettah, Ndilǫ, Łutselkʼe and Fort Resolution. In addition to Sundberg, the five other candidates are Steve Norn, Ernest Betsina, Richard Edjericon, Nadine Delorme and Clinton Unka.