Meet Mary Beckett, NDP candidate for the Northwest Territories
Beckett has a long history in Inuvik, now she wants to be N.W.T.'s representative in Ottawa
This is the first in a series of profiles of the Northwest Territories' federal election candidates. Read our profiles on Liberal candidate Michael McLeod, Conservative candidate Yanik D'Aigle, Green candidate Paul Falvo, and People's Party candidate Luke Quinlan.
Since she moved to Inuvik in 1984, Mary Beckett has had many jobs, but she's now looking at another career change — she's running as the Northwest Territories' New Democratic Party candidate in the 2019 federal election.
Her first job in Inuvik, 35 years ago, was teaching adult education. She later became self-employed: she's been a business consultant and bookkeeper, and ran several different businesses in Inuvik, including Boreal Books.
"Pretty much anything for a buck," Beckett said.
After a historic number of women were elected as MLAs in the Northwest Territories general election this fall, she's hoping to be another woman in a N.W.T. leadership role.
As a lifelong supporter of the NDP, she feels that her party best represents northerner values.
"[The] NDP fits well with that because … we feel the same way about how our government should run and we want our government to match the hearts of the people," Beckett said.
She said northerners, especially in the smaller communities, are always looking to help one another.
"If you vote for an NDP government, you get somebody that works for the little guy, that helps everybody out," Beckett said. "[Somebody] that believes in making communities better and doing things at [the] grassroots level rather than … as a centralized thing."
Work with Aurora College
Beckett has run for elected office before. She ran for MLA in Inuvik Boot Lake in 1999, but was defeated by longtime MLA and the 11th premier of the Northwest Territories, Floyd Roland.
She has a history in education and has served as chair and finance chair with the district education authority. She's been an active volunteer in the community, and was vice-chair of the now-defunct Board of Governors for Aurora College.
I will be a good voice for the North, I will be a good representative of the people.- Mary Beckett, N.W.T. NDP candidate
She said the NDP government is hoping to see students better supported.
"We don't want to see the government making money off of their student loans by charging interest," she said.
Beckett said one of her goals is to work with Aurora College to create more opportunities for people to get credentials locally.
"It is time for us to pay more attention to education, so that we can produce people who are from the North to do jobs in the North rather than always looking somewhere else," she said.
Cost of living a priority
Beckett states that a main priority, if elected, is to "call attention to the issues of the North." She says the federal government needs to recognize how the N.W.T. is different from the rest of the country when decisions are being made, "so that all of our programs and policies that come up here are fit to us rather than fit to somebody else."
She said the cost of living and housing should be a focus for the territory's member of Parliament and its MLAs going forward.
"The economy in the North has been kind of hit pretty drastically in the past couple of years," she said. "You'll notice that the downtown of Inuvik looks pretty empty and a lot of the houses have boards on the windows instead of people living in them."
She also said the federal government needs to look into actual steps when it comes changes in how people live in order to make a difference with climate change "because in the North, climate change is really affecting us."
Beckett, a mother of four, believes that it's time for someone from an Arctic community to be representing the N.W.T.
"I have a better familiarity and a better understanding of the issues of people who live in these small communities that are really, really remote," Beckett said.
"I think that really gives a different picture [from] somebody who came up through government ranks and worked in the cities mostly."
Until election day, Beckett said she'll be busy travelling to communities, connecting with constituents and making it a priority to have a presence at every all-candidate debate, so that N.W.T. residents can ask her questions and have a better understanding of her platform and ideas.
"They need to vote for me because I will be a good voice for the North, I will be a good representative of the people … I'm just one of those people who's willing to stand up and make my voice heard."