Ben Hendriksen appointed Yellowknife mayor for remaining 1.5-year term

Yellowknife city council appointed Ben Hendriksen as mayor of Yellowknife at a special council meeting Monday afternoon. 

The seat was left vacant by Rebecca Alty who is now the N.W.T.'s member of Parliament. 

Councillors Garrett Cochrane and Stacie Arden-Smith also put their names forward. Four of the five remaining voting councillors voted for Hendriksen, with only Steve Payne expressing support for Cochrane. 

Voting councillors said that while they believed all three councillors would be strong candidates, they support Hendriksen as a pragmatic option who has demonstrated his abilities to act as a bridge between the city's administration and council. 

Before Monday's appointment, Hendriksen, who was deputy mayor, had been acting mayor while Alty ran for MP. 

Delivering his pitch before council, Hendriksen said he sees himself as someone who does his homework, stays focused and works hard. He says he loves Yellowknife as his chosen home and will continue to advocate for the city and its residents. 

Receiving the news after council's deliberations, Hendriksen thanked his colleagues and moved along with the next order of business. 

"Let's get to work" he said.  

Hendriksen will be taking a leave of absence from his day job to serve as mayor for the remaining year-and-a-half term. He works as a senior policy analyst at the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission of the N.W.T. and Nunavut. He has also worked as a policy advisor for the Government of the Northwest Territories and as an advocate for adult learning in Europe. 

He says he doesn't intend to run for mayor in the next municipal election in October 2026.

Decision to appoint 

Prior to Hendriksen's appointment Monday, Yellowknife council deliberated how it would fill Alty's vacant seat. 

Seven of the eight councillors voted to appoint a member of council to the seat rather than hold a byelection or leave the position vacant. 

Councillors almost all cited money and time as rationale for their decision, saying a byelection would be costly to residents and take city staff away from other priorities.

Councillor Rob Warburton said that appointing a mayor would allow them to move forward on projects without interruption. 

"Our city is at a critical moment, we are facing urgent challenges we're all aware of, no land development for housing, increasing housing prices, concern about public safety in our neighbourhoods, an economy that's not rocking, folks are worried about those things, they're not worried about the politics," he said.   

Councillor Ryan Fequet said a byelection could take up to four months, leaving the new mayor with just over a year to complete projects. 

Only Steve Payne said he supported holding a byelection, and that doing so would be the most transparent option. 

"We don't do things behind closed doors," he said, adding that the democratic process of allowing the public to decide is worth the cost. 

Hendriksen will be sworn in on May 12. Council deferred deliberation on whether to fill his seat as a councillor until after the swearing in.