Yellowknife election 2026: Roland Laufer interview

Roland Laufer says he’s running for Yellowknife City Council to be a critical voice, playing the devil’s advocate while also helping to create a city that’s more sensitive to Indigenous needs and on a path toward more renewable energy.

Laufer came to Canada from Germany in 1991, moving to Yellowknife in 1996 in pursuit of a “dream to live in the real North and get away from the big cities, where everything is only about money.”

Working in the education industry, he calls Yellowknife a “paradise” but believes it needs work to stay that way and keep its residents united.

“How can we make Yellowknife an independent city that doesn’t rely so much on the south any more?” Laufer asked, describing his motivation for running.

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 6, 2026. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Ollie Williams: What is motivating your desire to be a city councillor now?

Roland Laufer: My biggest motivation is to have a little influence in daily life in Yellowknife, and then also bigger goals, especially: how can we make Yellowknife an independent city that doesn’t rely so much on the south any more? Which doesn’t rely so much on fossil fuels, but on renewable energy.

You listed housing and homelessness among your priorities. What would you be advocating for the city to do that it isn’t already doing?

That we step back. Do not try to work on the symptoms of a situation, but the reason for the situation. Everybody knows homelessness here in Yellowknife is not in a big way a social, a financial point. It’s more what happened to a culture that was here way before us, and we really have to reconcile this.

We have to work very closely with the Indigenous groups and the knowledge holders, because we try to do something we think is good for them but we don’t know what they actually really need, and this is my main concern. Step back, look at it from a different angle, then make the right decisions.

I know I don’t have much influence. I’m just one voice of many, but I will repeat this as often as I can.

Maybe talk to us then more broadly about the lens you are going to bring to everything as a city councillor. How would you describe the kind of councillor you would be on any issue?

On any issue, I probably will be the most critical. I see mistakes which were done in the city here in the past, which other cities all over the world already made, and I know some other mistakes will be coming up.

I first will say, ‘OK, let’s look at this from a different angle.’ Some people call me a devil’s advocate.

Empowering local business is a priority of yours as well. What do you mean by that from a council’s perspective?

We have to empower the people who live here in the North to step out of that fear of starting their own business because of the costs.

The city has possibilities to create tax breaks, put out grants. What could we put in the city which would be cool to have? Let’s look at Cabin Radio. You had the guts to do it and things could be easier for you, right? The city could make it easier. Especially cooperation from the city with the NWT government. There are so many possibilities. How we can revive the entire city with local businesses?

You say city could have grants, it could offer tax breaks. It would have to fund all of that somehow. Can you identify opportunities to get the funding for programs like that, by either removing other programs or doing something else differently?

I believe it’s more cooperation between the different municipalities we have in the Northwest Territories and with the NWT government, because the city itself can’t really create so many grants, but they can make grants accessible to local people which are put out by the federal or the provincial government, or by not-for-profit organizations.

Look, for example, at recycling in Yellowknife. We have millions of dollars stuck in recycling material here in Yellowknife, which gets put into the dump. If the City of Yellowknife could find a program where we can have an active recycling program within this territory somewhere, where a business creates income, that income – when the city is involved in the business – can be funneled back to the city. Costs can be cut down.

Look at Wıìlıìdeh Avenue. It’s pretty much a four-lane highway. We don’t need four lanes in a city of 20,000 people. There could be more income generated by allowing businesses to use the road space to create revenue. Revenue creates taxes. Taxes go back to the city.

It sounded to me like you were suggesting the city could collaborate to build a recycling facility that would take its recycling and do something with it. That sounds like a huge undertaking for a municipality to start work on.

Of course it’s a huge undertaking. In the next few years, we want to have probably 20 huge undertakings. When we look at homelessness, when we look at the downtown core, when we look at transportation, everything is this huge undertaking.

But when we want to make a city better, I think the first thing for me is to pull our socks up and clean it up a bit. Do the things which are obvious. Everybody knows everything goes in the dump.

Let’s look at all the big projects. The more we engage the public, the more we engage the citizens, the residents of the city into these processes, some group of people will bring a good solution up.

Talk to me about sustainable renewable energy. You ran as a Green Party candidate in a past federal election here. I know this is a subject close to your heart. How would you pursue that as a councillor?

I want to create an organization within the city that can provide information people need about renewable energy, especially solar and wind.

I’m looking outside right now. I don’t know how much energy is out there, but it’s incredible. I invested above $10,000 in the last three years to create a house within the city that runs on solar, and I did that all myself, pretty much, and I did that according to code.

Countries in South and Central America have started to create microgrids where one street takes care of itself. When I look at all the business buildings here in Yellowknife, the entire south side of every building could be covered in solar panels. So many power outages could be circumvented, which costs the city money, the businesses lose income, the people lose health.

Without boring everybody, the territory is going through some proposed changes to the way you can use solar power as an individual. There’s a program called net metering that plays a big role in this, in terms of how financially viable your solar installation might be. Does the city have business getting involved in this, or is this not a territorial issue?

Of course, it’s a big territorial issue. The territorial body is a big regulator. I think actually it’s a mandate for the territory to make it easier. But the big government does not make it easy if the people don’t speak up, and I think if the capital of the Northwest Territories says, “Hey, enough, federal and territorial governments, we have to make a big change,” I think there’s a chance.

The last priority you set out to me was Indigenous involvement in city policies and actions. What does that look like to you?

I don’t think I would be very comfortable if we don’t have any Indigenous members in council. That’s the first thing.

The other thing is every single piece of land, every single space in the Northwest Territory, we are only guests on it. The Indigenous people, it’s their land. They have traditions, they have rules, they have guidelines. I don’t see anything that city council sat together with the Métis, with the Dene people, and talked about this piece of land.

It goes back to the homelessness situation. How many initiatives by Indigenous people were stopped because their funding was removed, which could have helped all this?

How would you describe how familiar you are with the weeds of council in Yellowknife, the governance and priorities committee meetings, the council agendas of the past year? How much time have you been dedicating to that?

I slacked off a little because I had a few issues. Sometimes you have to work. Sometimes you have other things, but I wish I could have been more.

I have a lot to learn, and I’m willing to learn a lot from councillors that are present right now, and from other people who will be on the new council. I think we all have a big learning curve.

There are 21 people running for eight seats on council. What is it that sets you apart?

I’m not scared to stand up and say no. I’m not scared to be the devil’s advocate.

I have literally no agenda. I’m just a resident. I don’t run a business. I’m pretty much working part time now in places, so I have no personal agenda.

I want the next generation to be able to live, still, in this part of paradise, and not have to worry about as many things as we do.