Mary Killiktee
Community: Qikiqtarjuaq
Age: 59
Family status: Married with two grown children and one granddaughter, who just graduated this year
Career: I have worked as hotel manager for nine years; community justice outreach worker for 12 years with GN; mayor in Qikiqtarjuaq for eight years
Volunteer or board experience:
Chairperson with Justice before turned over as outreach worker for Justice; representative for homeowners through local housing association; local health board member; Tulugak Cooperative as local elected board of directors (present); Nunavut Inuit Women Association (present); Nunavut TB Association; SmartICE board of director (present); I was involved in many other bodies such as wellness committee, recreation committee and economic development committee, and as a volunteer to a lot of different organizations. It’s been my main resource to be involved and to better the community with the rest of the people who I have worked with.
Why are you running for MLA?
I want to serve people and I believe I have the experience and capacity to work hard for people of Clyde River and Qikiqtarjuaq. I am ready for a bigger task with all that is underway that are very important issues to be involved in, and most importantly voicing for Nunavummiut, just as I did when I was mayor of Qikiqtarjuaq. The most important function of being a member of the legislative assembly is to legislate, or make laws. As we know, the territorial legislature has the power to make laws, and I would be actively involved in this process, if elected.
How much influence should NTI have in territorial governance?
I know it is a very important matter that I would aim to review and see how the connectivity is with our government. I would want to learn and see how much should the government have on businesses and economy. From my leadership experience, connectivity can move the task by working and helping together to make things happen.
How urgent is combating climate change in Nunavut?
The local sea level is rising and many other changes already have affected the land and sea, we need to prioritize in a relevant way, as we know in our best of knowledge to work together. As we know, Government of Canada supports Inuit land for saying that, we need to work together to address this urgent matter about the rapid changes in our land and sea. We need to share and move forward using people’s knowledge that everyone have and tackle this with meaningful actions to protect Nunavut land.
How do you envision economic development?
I have learned over the years that we need a strong voice with great vision and determination to get this started and moving to deliver development/infrastructure. Making better choices in infrastructure development it’s best to develop an advisory group that aims only on the vision, because voice for growth for our community development can be of assistance to our government agencies and other resources in delivering infrastructure. Most importantly support better project planning to achieve to make it real. Community leaders are the key people to help our government.
Are you for or against mandatory vaccinations?
World today we live in has seriously been affected and I myself have receive vaccinations. I have no (issue) against it. But I want to see a program in each community using local health representatives to present by planning educational institution setup clinic for Nunavummiut. I believe this could help others and those that are in higher risk.