Thank you, Ms. Chair. A Cabinet role is a big commitment and a big challenge, and it's not one that I take lightly, especially as an MLA that is brand new to this Assembly. So thank you for allowing me this opportunity to explain a bit more about what motivates me, what is my background and experience, my vision for an effective Assembly and Cabinet, and why I believe I'm the right person for the job.
So a bit about my background. I was born and raised in Barrie, Ontario, and both my parents were teachers. My father was a high school teacher and my mother was a trailblazer in adult literacy. So both instilled in me a strong desire for lifelong learning and a passion for community service and volunteerism.
When I went off to university, I studied international development. I really wanted to help people overseas who were less fortunate than I was. I spent a year in the Philippines working with a grassroots peace building movement. And while it did spark my passion for learning about other cultures and languages, I concluded pretty quickly that I belonged here at home in Canada. I realized that as a decedent of the British Crown and as a Canadian citizen, I am a treaty person and it's my duty to uphold my responsibilities and better understand those treaty obligations to the Indigenous nations of Canada. So I turned my master's research towards negotiations between mineral exploration companies and First Nations in Canada, focusing on land access during the earliest stages of mineral exploration.
Fifteen years ago I moved to Yellowknife and have come to feel more at home here than anywhere else that I have lived. I love the land. I love this community. And every day I am grateful for the beauty of this place and its people.
After quite a brief stint with ITI when I first moved here, I decided I would rather work independently as a consultant and began doing work directly for First Nation communities outside Yellowknife, first communities across the Deh Cho region and then later on in the Sahtu. I spent time in each region of this territory doing work that spanned from helping communities navigate the complexities of major resource extraction projects and pipelines and building cross-cultural environmental research and monitoring programs that were based in communities, to planning renewable energy projects in communities, and also housing initiatives.
For four years, I led the northern office of the Pembina Institute, which is -- it's like a think tank but it's focused on renewable energy and clean energy solutions and climate change. Now I spent many years advocating for better policy solutions from outside government, and then I decided I would like to be the one who is making decisions and able to make change from the inside. So I ran for Yellowknife city council and was elected to two consecutive terms, and that was from 2015 to last year, 2022.
During this time I served as deputy mayor, as the chair of the community energy planning committee, and also the chair of the community advisory board on homelessness here in Yellowknife. During that time, in order to make ends meet and also to feed my passion for being on the land and arts and children's education, I also managed my own piano teaching studio and I worked at the snow castle, and I worked as an on the land educator with Bush Kids NWT. I was also a board member with the Yellowknife Women's Society, which houses vulnerable people at the Spruce Bough supportive living facility, the women's shelter. The society also runs the street outreach van and two daycares, amongst other programs. And during the recent evacuation, I worked with the society as we frantically tried to locate and support members of the vulnerable population who were scattered in various cities in Alberta, and I saw firsthand how what we often see as just everyday government dysfunction really became magnified during the emergency despite the heroic efforts of many individual government employees who tried to step up.
Now, the common themes in all of this background are my passion for this community, for the land, and for making positive change, also my ability to learn new things quickly and my ability to think holistically about how all the different pieces fit together at a policy level for creating a healthy land and a healthy community.
My vision for a healthy and effective consensus government involves Regular MLAs and Cabinet pulling in the same direction rather than one side serving as an opposition, as we often hear it called. We all know that we need our small set of really focused priorities with actions that all departments would be contributing to, and we need to negotiate together a set of priorities that we can all get on board with and stay on board with to achieve meaningful change. So in my mind, Premier and Cabinet should be ensuring that the departments are effectively integrating the work on those priorities and not retreating into their silos. And committees and Regular MLAs would help guide Cabinet and pointing out aspects that require some course correction to achieve those priorities we've all agreed upon. We are here to hold each other accountable, not to shame and blame, but to draw attention to the gaps and things that are being missed and forgotten.
To achieve true and effective collaboration, I think we need a Cabinet made up of consensus builders, people who share a clear vision of what needs to be done but who can also listen and work with others in a respectful and ethical way.
Now, I've never joined a political party, and I don't like partisan slogans or ideology. I simply want to find the most practical and efficient ways of getting things done. I will work with everyone. I will build upon the common ground that we can identify instead of focusing on the differences. I'm someone who never stops listening and learning, whether that's from colleagues or constituents, advisors or staff. I try to hear all perspectives, and I try to choose carefully who I take advice from.
Now, I'm not the one with the loudest opinions or the one who can talk for the longest, but I'm the one who will spend time trying to understand both the people around me and the complexity of the situations that we're facing.
The first thing I did when I decided to run for politics back in 2015 was that I resolved I would not try to be the person that everyone liked. Instead, I wanted to be someone that everyone could respect, even those who disagree with me and my decisions. I want to be transparent, always explain my rationale, and make decisions with integrity. And so that makes me someone who's not afraid to take risks. I try to take courageous decisions even when they're difficult, even if they upset some people if I'm satisfied that I've taken the time to listen and I'm convinced it's the best way forward.
Through my work with Bush Kids, we taught a lot about the Dene laws, and I try to follow them in my own life. One that I think about often is to just be happy as much as you can. And so I try to bring joy to my work. I try to bring a smiling face each day. Because if we can't be pleasant and kind to each other, then what's the point of doing this work?
I work hard. I read a lot. I do my homework. I attend every meeting that I can and in every meeting, I try to give everyone the attention and the respect that they deserve. I ask a lot of questions, and sometimes I have to hold myself back from asking too many questions because I've learned that sometimes people just need to show you instead of telling you so I should just wait and watch sometimes.
I respond to everyone who reaches out with a question or concern. And one question that people ask often is how are you going to stand up to the bureaucrats who are going to try to control you and control the government? To start with, I have tremendous respect for those who've dedicated their lives to public service, and I try to appreciate the pressures and the risks that they face too. I believe I can foster mutual respect and lead the bureaucracy with determination, integrity, and a spirit of collaboration. If encountering resistance or attitudes like it can't be done or this is the way it's always been done, my first response would be to be curious, understand what can be gained and who stands to lose out if something is changed. So I'll finish it off here. I believe my experience and my positive energy would be an asset to Cabinet.