Rebecca Alty said that as she hears “concerns and opportunities” from folks across the territories, one big “interconnected” issue keeps coming up. And the biggest issue she has been hearing across the territories in her work with the Liberal Party has to do with health, housing and related infrastructure.
Alty says the drug crisis is “number one” concern she has been hearing from people across the territories.
“There’s just so much that’s also interconnected, but the number one thing I hear is the drug crisis, which really is a health crisis,” said Alty.
As the Liberal Party candidate for the Member of Parliament seat in the Northwest Territories, Atly has spent over 13 years working in government leadership roles. Alty is currently serving a second term as mayor of Yellowknife. Before being elected as mayor, Alty served two terms as a city councillor. Before that she worked in communications and community relations for the Diavik Diamond Mine, NGO’s, and the Government of the Northwest Territories.
A few weeks ago, Alty announced her campaign and responded to questions True North FM had asked him along with all the MP Candidates.
Alty recently spoke with True North FM about her leadership vision as the Liberal Party’s MP candidate for NWT
“Throughout the Northwest Territories, meeting with folks, whether it’s the grocery store or on their doorsteps, it’s been really good to talk further and hear concerns and opportunities,” said Alty.
Alty said the main concern she has been hearing from people across communities in the territories has to do with addictions and health.
“The number one thing I hear is the drug crisis, which really is a health crisis. And so working to address that in many different ways because it’s not just going to be one thing that’s going to solve or improve the situation,” said Alty.
To address the drug and health crisis, Alty said there are a number of different projects in the works and projects that she would like to get off the ground.
Alty said that to address the issues around the crisis, she hopes to expand policing resources by hiring about 1000 more RCMP officers and about 1,000 more border patrol officers.
“Because this problem isn’t unique to the Northwest Territories. It is (illegal substances like) cocaine coming from other countries. So really trying to the drugs from coming into our country,” said Alty.
“The other thing is about addressing the trauma and the addiction,” she explained.
Atly said she wants to ensure the government provides funding for treatment, aftercare and housing so that people who are facing addictions have a chance to recover.
“So that when people go to treatments and come back, they have a safe place to begin their healing journey,” explained Alty.
Atly spoke about some of the initiatives that she has been involved with that she believes will change that.
“A recent project that we’ve funded is the Dene Wellness Warriors. They’re looking to do a healing centre in Fort Providence, there’s going to be a 60-bed women and children’s transitional housing. In Fort Resolution. There’s going to be land programming, so many different things happening across the Northwest Territories,” she said.
Alty said the issue of housing is “big” and its interconnected with health and wellness, which is something she has been hearing a lot about.
Housing investment and funding across communities in the territories is something that Alty said she wants to see continue.
“There has been a lot of investment in housing to date and we’re starting to see the housing get built and the housing arriving in the communities.
Alty spoke about the ways that housing has also been impacted by the health of the environment and climate change.
“Definitely really important and some of the things that we want to focus on is creating an Indigenous Climate Readiness and Adaptation Fund. As well for homeowners looking to provide funds to support home retrofits. Making homes more energy efficient as well as funding to homeowners on wildfire and flood mitigation measures, initiatives that residents can take to reduce those risks,” she said.
Alty said that another work in development is a high-risk flood insurance program that she hopes will be available by April 2026.
Alty said she wants to “increase green, reliable power” with hydroelectric projects like Talston.
“We want to be able to invest in clean, reliable energy and there’s a number of other infrastructure projects around the Northwest Territories.”
Alty said she wants the government to continue on track with investing billions of dollars in housing for communities including providing direct funding to Indigenous governments.
“So looking to continue that we are looking to invest $6 billion in housing and really focusing on affordable transitional housing, because recognizing housing and health are so interconnected.
Working on investment in infrastructure to unlock more jobs is another major priority, said Alty.
When it comes to issues around Arctic security and economy, Alty said she hopes to try “to kill two birds with one stone” with many of the initiatives she is working on with the Liberal Party.
A new Arctic Northern Operations Hub that was just announced is aimed at having that “dual use” said Alty.
“So making sure there’s investments in (things like) airports, search and rescue programs.”
Alty explained that Inuvik and Yellowknife were identified as two of the northern operation hubs, but she said talks are in the works to set up two more locations at different areas in the North.
Among initiatives that Alty is excited about is a land guardian program known as Our Land for the Future, an Indigenous-led conservation land initiative happening in the territories.
The initiative has a focus on the land and monitoring, Indigenous culture, climate change, sovereignty perspective, and creating jobs throughout the North, explained Alty.
When it comes to climate change, Alty said she wants to ensure that youth are involved and she is looking to help develop a Youth Climate Corp., an initiative “about strengthening resiliency” and empowering youth to respond to climate disasters.
“That is boots on the ground, going out and taking a look at the monitoring which is really important,” said Alty.
Alty said she wants to see Canada play an important role for countries across the globe. She said she wants to see Canada help lead other countries, to “step up” and gather the climate science data with initiatives like Our Land for the Future.
The Liberal Party is looking to increase military pay and make changes to the military’s procurement, such as procuring icebreakers, something Alty said she supports.
When it comes to nation-building projects, Alty said she wants to see remote communities get access to roads and waterways. The Slave Geological Province Road connecting up to Gray’s Bay as well as the Mackenzie Valley Highway are projects she would like to continue she said.
Alty said she wants to give Indigenous communities and businesses greater access to economic resources and opportunities. One way she hopes to do that is to increase the Indigenous Loan program from a $5 billion fund to $10 billion.
“So that Indigenous governments, indigenous business corporations are able to participate more in the economy and in these big projects. Looking to also increase the funding to double the capacity for Indigenous government to be able to participate in (for example) environmental reviews for these big projects, and so, that’s really important,” said Alty.
Settling land claims is another important area that Alty is looking to move forward with.
“Land claims are also really important, for the Dehcho, Akaitcho and the Colville Lake (community). There’s a number of unsettled land claims and self-government agreements. So one of the things we’re looking to do is actually add more staff capacity at the federal level to be able to have more negotiating days at the table, to be able to conclude those. Because once they’re concluded, it adds more certainty to the region,” said Alty.
