Yellowknife election 2026: Keneisha Buddoo interview

Keneisha Buddoo is running for city council in this month’s municipal election.

She said she wants to run to help Yellowknifers that feel they’re in “a financial chokehold.”

“The city is squeezing us,” she said.

Buddoo has worked in the education sector for more than 20 years and is the chair of the Yellowknife Women’s Society’s board of directors, a reservist, small business owner and mother.

“On a very frequent basis, we have to ask real questions around housing, governance, operational risks, funding, everything that lands at our most disenfranchised families,” she said of her work with the women’s society.

Buddoo has been hosting walks with Yellowknife residents to discuss local issues and sharing her thoughts on Facebook in the lead-up to the election.

Priorities in Buddoo’s election platform include making room for Yellowknife, building a city that works at every age, making it easier to stay, and accountability at City Hall.

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 hosted a mayoral candidates’ debate on October 5 at City Hall. You can watch the debate on Cabin Radio’s Facebook page or listen to it on Spotify.

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

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This interview was recorded on October 5, 2026. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Emily Blake: One of your priorities in your campaign is making room for Yellowknife, which you’ve said is about housing development processes, and preparing the city for the economic transition between diamonds and defence. How do you hope to help the city advance that work over the next four years?

Keneisha Buddoo: Housing is the doorway of everything we do, just about. It’s human dignity, it’s a human right. And regardless of how we talk about defence investments, how we talk about building tourism, wanting more workers, the question that comes to mind is: where are they going to live?

The city obviously cannot build all the houses. However, it has levers or things it can control: land, zoning, the processes, how predictable those processes are. Those are the things I would want to definitely push for.

Right now, we can have a project move from a land process, then a development permit, then a variance, and then months and thousands of dollars just disappear. If we’re talking about growth and readiness, that cannot be how we move forward for the next four years.

That’s one of my biggest pushes. I want a clear lead on a housing file. Consolidated requirements. If we know what we want to build – whether it’s a duplex, or a triplex or any kind of middle housing – zoning shouldn’t be too difficult. It really shouldn’t be. We already have that. Let’s put it in place.

Another one of your priorities is building a city that works for every age, so safe neighbourhoods, an accessible downtown, and everyday infrastructure that helps people participate in community life. What would success in that area look like to you?

While we’re busy looking into the next economy – be it defence, or tourism, or an expansion in mines – we have to look at our number one resource, which is human capital. It is the people who are here today, right now. We cannot factor in tomorrow when people here today are suffering, right?

For many of us, especially our seniors, accessibility ends after the first snowfall. We know how long the seasons are here. The city is just not looking, the way it needs to, to accommodate all ages.

If you and I can access the sidewalk but someone in a stroller can’t, that is not accessibility. We have done an injustice to our community. So definitely pushing for that in terms of accessibility.

Then there is our downtown core. I am a homeowner. I actually own a home downtown. The realities of that is real. We cannot enforce out homelessness if we have nowhere to put them.

We talk about a city that works for every age. Our youth want to enjoy downtown, our young families want to enjoy downtown. My mother, who is 73 years old, also wants to enjoy downtown. So we need to actually work on that.

And [Yellowknife lawyer] Peter Adourian really hammers in: “We are one catastrophic incident away from collapsing the whole territory.” We do not want that at all. So those are some things I’d like to look at: the homelessness downtown, the encampments downtown, and revitalization while we prepare for tomorrow.

What do you see as the city’s role in all that?

Bringing the partners together, right? The city is not GNWT, they’re not Housing NWT, they’re not Ottawa. But for sure we need to bring the partners together, the chambers, Indigenous governments, they’ve been pushing for that. The GNWT, whatever departments that will help actually propel that forward.

It really boils down to relationships. At the core of this community are really good people. If you speak to every single department, we all want the same thing. But it seems as if that piece of information is not gathering at a table, or the right voices are not being heard, as well as putting what the needs are forward.

I saw an article today about the Indigenous governments trying to really push and to get some kind of system in place for the homeless people. They’ve been asking for that. The city can be a part of that conversation and lobby for that.

Another one of your priority areas is making it easier to stay, which you said has meant affordability and conditions that allow people and businesses to put down roots. What more or better do you think the city could be doing on this issue?

This is where I think politicians have to be really careful. I have a video online right now that has garnered almost 30,000 views. I merely took a bill, an oil bill that a mother is faced with, that was sitting on her dining table. Three bedroom, two kids, single mother. The city did not deliver that bill, but certainly it can factor in whatever decisions they’re making.

The city holds a lot of the levers. Again, it all goes back to partnership, and whatever it is that’s in our mandate to be able to help with affordability, consider that. What else can we ask us to carry? We cannot take on much more. Can we cut taxes? What are we willing to cut? There’s nothing I see that we’re able to cut. But just factoring those things and making very conscious decisions.

What do we have? What do we need? Are there things that need to be changed now? Infrastructure that needs to be developed? Whatever it is, factoring those things in and showing we meet the budget so we can actually get there.

A fourth priority you mentioned is accountability, so clear reporting on city spending, project progress, service delivery, and an explanation when things fall behind. How as a councillor would you ensure the city is accountable?

Not a 200-page document that you and I cannot access, or a website that looks good – I like the colours – but it’s so overwhelming, it is not accessible at all.

Something that I want to open and understand as a resident is: what projects are we working on, what was the budget, how much have we spent, where is it at, when will it be completed, what’s the stall, what’s happening?

I’m not asking for us to do more work. We don’t want that. But this is information City Hall already has. Find a way. We have systems in place, technology in place, capitalize on it. But be very careful not to streamline archaic processes and then flood us with information, because that doesn’t work either.

Overall, why do you want to be a city councillor?

I have marginalized youth waiting for an adult to help them get through. I have senior citizens who have said this city no longer works. Residents here who have no idea how they’re going to pay the next bill or where they’re going to live.

I do fairly well for myself. I think I followed the rules. I got a good profession, I have higher education, I started businesses, and I feel as if I’m in a financial chokehold. That is a sentiment shared by most Yellowknifers. The city is squeezing us.

As a councillor, I want to take that. I’m a piece of all of you, and take that to the table as well, whenever they’re factoring their decisions. That’s why I want to run.

What is your familiarity with current city council and their meetings and what’s going on at City Hall?

I think if you look in the [council meeting] videos, you’ll see me in many of them. I show up at City Hall and I’ve been learning. I have no problem navigating the city and speaking to people. I go to the Wednesday meetings. I’m very familiar with all the council members, some more than others. I know about the first reading, the second reading, the third reading, all the plans that are in place, having conversations with them.

But the best part is taking that conversation, taking those plans, those concerns, and actually talking to the residents with my Walk With Me YKs during my campaigning. I feel as if I’ve been campaigning for years, by the way. Talking to people comes naturally for me.

I’m born to serve. I take what I’ve heard and then I bring it to the community to hear what they’re saying. So I feel as if I’m ready. I feel like I’m there already. People are calling me like I’m a councillor. I’m like, “Guys, I’m not there yet.”

We had a member of the LGBTQ+ community contact us about Facebook posts you made in December 2025 regarding gender-neutral washrooms and gender-affirming care. I wanted to give you the opportunity to address concerns anyone in the LGBTQ+ community might have.

I believe we are meant to serve all our community members. Gender neutral washroom? Go for it if that’s what is needed, it’s a safe space. Gender-affirming care for adults? That’s absolutely something I would support. Counselling, whatever is needed.

I teach at the high school, we have a great club, great organizations. I’m familiar with the Northern Mosaic Network. I actually wanted to work with them at one point. So that is something I push forward. Absolutely, inclusiveness happens everywhere I go. Especially as a teacher. I think, how do you get around that? Everyone is supported. It’s a community I support.

Twenty-one people are running for council. Why would you say people should vote for you?

Because I am them. I’m not a career politician. There’s very little for me to gain more than serving, and I’m born to serve.

I come from different intersections of the community, and I think that’s needed in terms of what’s actually working and what’s not working for the average Yellowknifer. I don’t sit on the upper echelon. I’m middle class, struggling like most of us, doing the best we can. I have a family. I own a house here. So I am you in many ways.