Q&A | N.W.T. MP Rebecca Alty on her cabinet appointment, and how she'll work to advance land claims in riding

As the new federal cabinet minister responsible for Crown-Indigenous Relations, the N.W.T.'s MP Rebecca Alty will be navigating key issues within her riding. 

That includes both land claim and self-government negotiations, which Alty said she plans to advance with all available resources.

This is the first time in nearly 20 years that the N.W.T. has a representative sitting in cabinet. The last was former MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew, who served as a minister until 2006. 

Alty spoke to CBC News on Thursday for the first time since she was appointed minister, about her role and how she will balance her position in cabinet with representing her constituents. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm curious, did you push for this ministerial role?

No. I was, you know, elected as an MP and that was a big honour — and a big thanks to residents across the Northwest Territories. And then the prime minister's office reached out and asked if I'd consider cabinet. 

The prime minister called to offer me Crown-Indigenous Relations, which I'm really happy. It's a huge file, but so relevant in our home territory, and so I'm looking forward to the work ahead.

How do you think that your background and past experience on Yellowknife city council and as mayor equips you for this role?

Yeah, I think those are the relevant skills, and as well as my time at Diavik and being the manager of community and Indigenous relations.

As mayor, it was working with eight colleagues to advance issues. So now it's at that bigger scale in Parliament. And then it is continuing to work with Indigenous partners, and now it's not just in the Yellowknife region or the Northwest Territories, but now across Canada. 

So I do think my background on council as well as at Diavik will be helpful in this portfolio.

As minister now responsible for overseeing the land claims negotiations, how are you going to work to progress them here in the territory?

I had great discussions with the [Dehcho First Nations] Grand Chief [Herb] Norwegian during the campaign, as well as with his team after the campaign but before I was minister. 

So I do look forward to, now that I am minister, being able to engage with the leadership. 

And you know, it sounds super promising with the Grand Chief [Norwegian] looking to finalize an agreement by the end of the year. Now it is working with my department to find the resources to see how possible that is.

Because again, there's so many different negotiations happening across the territory, across the country, and so how do we balance that? 

But it is definitely one of the things that I'm looking most forward to in this role, is land claims and self-government agreements.

I'm curious to hear a little more about what your strategy will be. How will you work to push them forward?

So at the department level, it is about, you know, finding out our resources available and strategies on how to maximize those resources. It is working with the department as well as partners to see how we can expedite these processes.

How will you balance being a minister and serving your constituents?

I think it's one and the same. So having that seat at the cabinet table, I am able to to bring that northern perspective and being able to to champion the issues, week in, week out. 

And as the minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, a lot of the important work in the Northwest Territories is resolving the land claims and self-government agreements, continuing to honour and implement treaty, expanding capacity for modern treaty holders. So I think it is one and the same. 

It will be a challenge to make it into the Northwest Territories as much as when I was mayor. I was living there every week, and so I was able to go to more and more community events. So I think that will be the one challenge. 

However, I'll be more in Ottawa being able to champion for the stuff back home.