North·NWT VOTES 2023

Nominations open next week in N.W.T. election, here's who's running so far

Despite this summer’s wildfire emergencies, and recent years’ devastating floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, there are at least 30 people who have said they're keen to lead the territory through any future crisis as MLAs.

Prospective candidates have from Oct. 16 to 20 to file nomination papers

Sidney Cohen · CBC News · Posted: Oct 12, 2023 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 12, 2023

A polling station is pictured. — CBC News has compiled a list of 30 people who have so far indicated their interest in running in the N.W.T. election. The official nomination period is next week and voting day is Nov. 14. (Graham Hughes/archives Canadian Press)

After a delay due to wildfires and evacuations, the Northwest Territories election campaign is finally, nearly, upon us.

The N.W.T.'s chief electoral officer will issue writs of election on Monday, officially opening up the nomination period. Prospective candidates have until 2 p.m. on Oct. 20 to file their papers.

Those who choose to run will be doing so at an exceptional moment in the territory's history.

Wildfires that ripped through the South Slave region and the northern shores of Great Slave Lake this summer caused widespread damage and forced about 68 per cent of the territory's residents to flee their communities.

Fighting those fires, and funding communities' evacuations, is expected to cost around $150 million, and pretty much drain the government's estimated operating surplus, Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek said in August.

The federal government has said it will come through with some disaster assistance cash, but it's unclear when or how much.

There's no doubt though, the next Legislative Assembly will have to deal with the fallout.

And yet, despite this summer's wildfire emergencies, and recent years' devastating floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, there are at least 30 N.W.T.ers keen to lead the territory through any future crisis.

CBC News has compiled a list of people who have so far indicated their interest in running in the Nov. 14 territorial election.

The list is incomplete. CBC will put out an updated roster when more MLA hopefuls announce their intentions.

District	People planning to run
Deh Cho	Ron Bonnetrouge*
Frame Lake	Deanna Cornfield
	Julian Morse
	John Stanley
	Spencer Tracy
Great Slave	Katrina Nokleby*
	Kate Reid
Hay River North	R.J. Simpson*
Hay River South	Wally Schumann
Inuvik Boot Lake	Diane Archie*
	Denny Rodgers
Inuvik Twin Lakes	Lesa Semmler*
Kam Lake	Caitlin Cleveland*
Mackenzie Delta	Frederick Blake Jr.*
Monfwi	Jane Weyallon Armstrong*
Nahendeh	Josh Campbell
	Les Wright
Nunakput	Lucy Kuptana
Range Lake	Nicole Sok
	Kieron Testart
Sahtu	Paulie Chinna*
	Danny McNeely
Thebacha	Frieda Martselos*
Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh	Richard Edjericon*
Yellowknife Centre	Ambe Chenemu
	Robert Hawkins
	Matt Spence
Yellowknife North	Shauna Morgan
Yellowknife South	Caroline Wawzonek*
District unconfirmed	Bruce Valpy

* incumbents

Of the prospective candidates so far, 12 are incumbents.

Sitting MLAs not seeking another term include Premier Caroline Cochrane (Range Lake), Health Minister Julie Green (Yellowknife Centre), and regular MLAs Jackie Jacobson (Nunakput), Kevin O'Reilly (Frame Lake) and Rylund Johnson (Yellowknife North).

Shane Thompson (Nahendeh), minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and Environment and Climate Change, was a lead in the territory's wildfire response. He hasn't said yet whether he'll join this fall's race. Neither has regular MLA Rocky Simpson (Hay River South).

Election day was originally supposed to be Oct. 3, but MLAs voted in August to postpone it until Nov. 14.