Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today we celebrate International Women's Day. The purpose of this commemoration is to bring attention to and advocate for the advancement of women in all areas of our society. On this day, we acknowledge gender inequalities and celebrate the empowerment of women. According to the official website for International Women's Day, this year's theme is "Balance for Better," which is a call for action for improving gender parity across the world.
In honour of this theme, Mr. Speaker, I would like to discuss the issue of women representation in electoral politics. This issue has been studied by many bodies, including the United Nations, the Parliament of Canada, and our own Legislature of the NWT.
Mr. Speaker, the United Nations determined that, in order to achieve significant policy change in government, all parliaments must attain a 30 percent threshold for women.
Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, our current Legislative Assembly in this Assembly does not meet that threshold. Our legislature consists of just 10.5 percent women. However, there are other political arenas within the NWT that have exceeded 30 percent, and I would like to highlight some of them today. For example, in our last 10 federal elections from 1988 to 2015, five of 10 elections were won by a woman, and that candidate was named Ethel Blondin-Andrew.
More presently, Mr. Speaker, since 2015, our capital city of Yellowknife has had a city council consisting of 37 percent women. In addition, as of 2018, four of the most populated communities in the NWT all elected women as mayors, with Rebecca Alty in Yellowknife; Kandis Jamieson in Hay River; Natasha Kulikowski in Inuvik; and Lynn Napier-Buckley in Fort Smith. In addition, there are five Dene communities where they are currently led by female chiefs, which includes April Martel of K'atlodeeche, Becky Cayen of West Point, Wanda Pascal of Tetlit Gwich'in, and Bernice Furlong of Inuvik Band and Freida Martselos of the Salt River First Nation. Mr. Speaker, I speak unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted