Yellowknife election 2026: Nazim Awan interview

Nazim Awan says after living in Yellowknife since 2003, he believes now is the right time for his skills to benefit the city as a councillor. He’s running in this month’s municipal election.

Awan initially moved from Pakistan to Calgary but almost immediately found himself in Yellowknife, he said, calling his time in the city a “very enriching experience.”

“I feel that I am part of a big northern family of Indigenous people, non-Indigenous people, people like me from everywhere,” he said.

He is running on a platform that places affordability at its heart, positioning himself as a specialist in partnerships, and will use his background as a senior economic development advisor at the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency to help council make good, collaborative decisions.

He also points to his roles as a leader of Yellowknife’s Islamic community, a Rotary Club member and food bank volunteer among other responsibilities.

Cabin Radio is aiming to interview all 21 candidates running for eight council seats. We have asked every candidate to list their four top priorities to guide those interviews.

Melissa Syer and Garett Cochrane are running for mayor. Cabin Radio is hosting a mayoral candidates’ debate on October 5 from 7-8:30pm at City Hall, which will be broadcast live on our Facebook page, website and app.

Election day is October 19. Early voting begins on October 5 and runs until October 16.

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This interview was recorded on September 29, 2026. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Ollie Williams: Why do you want to be a city councillor?

Nazim Awan: I ran for office in Pakistan, equivalent to the mayor’s office. When I came to Canada, I was in learning mode. I was very actively engaged in municipal, territorial and federal politics as a citizen. So when I was in Norman Wells, I was part of a land use and planning committee as a volunteer. When we came back to Yellowknife again, I had a very good connection with the mayor and councillors due to my community work.

Why now? Because I think now I cannot be just a voter and observer. Living here for more than 20 years now demands that I be in the ring, not outside.

Yellowknife is at a very challenging but, at the same time, very crucial moment. If Yellowknife council makes good, visionary, strategic decisions, it can make Yellowknife. Otherwise it will be like many mining towns, affected very negatively.

Affordability is a question everybody has. Some people have told me when they go to the store now, they see which apple is a bit cheaper, which tomato is a bit cheaper.

That tells me people like me – who know the government system, how investments work, and how we can retain those investments’ benefits – should be part of that table where we can make decisions that will help.

Yellowknife will be either a ‘have’ city or a ‘have not’ city, and I want a city that is thriving for citizens, for taxpayers, for businesses and for visitors.

Affordability is clearly a priority of yours. Given the limited powers a municipal council has, what are some of the levers you would like to see the city council pull?

Partnerships. They have to go to the territorial government, go to Ottawa and promote Yellowknife. Yellowknife is part of the Canadian story, part of sovereignty, part of national defence investments.

Those investments are coming, but they will not stay here. That’s why I’m running. Pathfinding is a role every citizen has to play, but municipal government has to play it at a higher level.

As you’ve seen in the last two years, they have raised taxes. They have used their reserve fund. Why? Because of poor planning. The reserve fund should be beefed up. We should be ready to meet those things through better planning. So, simple answer: partnerships.

I can give you one example: there are some other partners leading the art centre in Yellowknife. Who has the mandate to build that building and operate it? The city doesn’t have that mandate, but the city needs to be at the table. The city needs to support that.

We cannot do everything. But the city has an opportunity now in the $8 billion that will be spent in the NWT. How much can we retain that?

Quality of life and growth are other priorities you’ve talked about. It sounds to me like you see a lot of this through a lens of city council being ambassadors and links to other levels of government. In terms of growth and quality of life, are there things council can do on its own?

In my door-knocking and meeting with people, they have said the city should focus on the downtown core, where cleanliness can be done without too many capital-flashy projects.

Homelessness is a big issue and different governments have a lead role in that, but the city should take it very seriously because we are a tourism town as well, and business in downtown is affected. Quality of life is affected for every Yellowknifer if people do not want to come downtown, and that is a problem for me. I don’t think that is right.

Cleanliness and safety downtown should be improved through more programming and partnerships with other government levels. Not enforcing; enforcing is not the issue. We have to have empathy with the homelessness issue and urge other levels of government to take this seriously, and not be spectators. It is our problem. As a city council, we have to handle that issue. We cannot just pass on the responsibility to somebody. We should be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Talk to me about your familiarity with the weeds of being on council. To what extent have you been sat there for the past few years, watching the meetings, reading the agendas, immersing yourself in what it actually means to do this job?

I have seen that sometimes people become councillors with an agenda, and that’s unfortunate. Any councillor who is elected is a councillor for Yellowknife. It doesn’t matter what group they belong to. I will make partnerships with people, engage with them. If we disagree, disagree on merit, but always remember that our decisions should not impact the ability of Yellowknife to be affordable.

If people forget that, I will remind them that you are here for a reason. So please, if you have some personal issues, don’t bring them to this table. Municipal government should be for everybody.

There are 21 people on this ballot. A lot of them are talking about the same issues, not always in the same way. What sets you apart?

My platform has two highlights I want to accomplish for Yellowknife.

We are part of an Indigenous community. We have seen some progress on Indigenous reconciliation but the city has not done what it can do. The city should be a leading example of reconciliation. We have more opportunities to do that through Indigenous contracting in municipal government, like the federal five-percent requirement for all federal contracts.

Second, if you see my profile for the last 23 years in Canada, I have a day job always. I like to pay taxes and I want to continue to do that. Door knocking, I was very happy to hear that people are willing to pay taxes, but those taxes should be linked with some reciprocal services to the community. So if city council tomorrow raises taxes, there should be not only flashy projects, not only capital projects. Services should also increase.

I will make sure we have structured partnerships with federal government, with the territorial government, and that council has regular, structured public engagement where we put forward our plans and get feedback. It should be an ongoing process so we can always go back to the residents to get advice and get direction, because they will know better than anybody – a business person, a tourism operator, even a homeless person – how we can help them.

And we need empathy at city council, not enforcement all the time. Enforcement is not the solution.