Cody Drygeese makes Yellowknife election history

Cody Drygeese made history in Yellowknife on Monday night, becoming what is believed to be the first Yellowknives Dene First Nation member elected to city council.

Of the 21 candidates who ran for eight council seats, Drygeese was the most popular, garnering 3,439 votes according to unofficial election results – 340 votes higher than the candidate in second place.

“What I really like about this race is that I entered it fully intending to be myself, and that’s exactly what I did,” Drygeese told Cabin Radio on election night.

“I was being … authentically Dene. Like, I didn’t have to bend in any way to convince people to vote for me. I just was myself, and I think people really appreciate authenticity.”

Drygeese has worked in the environmental science field for 13 years at the Ekati diamond mine, with the Nechalacho rare earth minerals project, and as a senior engagement specialist for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation’s negotiations on the Arctic Economic and Security Corridor.

He kicked off the election campaign last month by inviting all candidates and residents to a non-partisan feeding-the-fire ceremony in Ndılǫ.

His platform included a focus on reconciliation and advocating for all Indigenous people in Yellowknife.

Drygeese said being elected to city council is “a great step towards acknowledging the original people of the area, specifically the Yellowknives Dene, because we’ve always been here. We’ve seen the city grow up around us.”

“It’s great to be involved in this way, he said, “and to have earned a spot there. It feels great, it feels like a step in the right direction for the city.”

According to the 2021 census, 24 percent of Yellowknife’s population identified as Indigenous.

Drygeese said he wants to bring back the city’s Indigenous relations advisor position, which ended after 18 months in early 2020 when federal funding for the role ran out. Drygeese wants to see the role outlast his term on council and said he hopes fellow councillors will support him in that effort.

As a councillor, Drygeese has said he wants to support more affordable housing, downtown revitalization, and treatment of people experiencing homelessness with dignity.

“I’m looking forward to working with my new colleagues and to help figure out a new path forward,” he said.

“I really want to work together with my colleagues to continue improving our city for residents.”

Indigenous relationships ‘critical’

Speaking during Cabin Radio’s live election special on Monday night, outgoing Mayor of Yellowknife Ben Hendriksen said he is “super happy” Drygeese was elected.

Hendriksen said relationships with Indigenous governments are “critically important” to the city’s work.

“We can’t build as a community without good, strong relationships,” he said.

Mark Heyck, who served as Yellownife’s mayor from 2012 to 2018, recalled that during his time at City Hall, he was often asked why more Indigenous people don’t run in city elections. He didn’t have a good answer.

Heyck believes Drygeese will bring “a perspective that’s been absent from council.”

“I think it was wonderful to see Cody step up and run for a position on council,” he said.

“I think it’s equally wonderful that the voting public in Yellowknife basically said, ‘We want very strongly a member of the YKDFN to be on our Yellowknife city council.'”

Heyck said successive Yellowknife councils have advanced reconciliation but “there’s no substitute” for having a Yellowknives Dene member at the table.

Late last year, the city commissioned a 10-year reconciliation roadmap outlining recommendations including an intergovernmental partnership table, reconciliation scorecard and inclusive land acknowledgment.

In June, the city held a ceremony to celebrate the renaming of Yellowknife’s main street to Wıìlıìdeh Avenue, a name that had been requested by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation’s chiefs and council.

“We can’t look to one person being elected or the renaming of a street. These are all things on a lifelong journey of reconciliation and that’s what we need to remember,” Hendriksen said.

Joining Drygeese on council will be Rob Foote, who has said he has Indigenous ancestry, as well as Adrian Bell, Donna Lee Demarcke, Rob Warburton, Steve Payne, Rylund Johnson and Keneisha Buddoo. Melissa Syer was elected as Yellowknife’s next mayor.

Alongside Foote, there were two other members of the outgoing council with Indigenous ancestry: Garett Cochrane, who is Métis and unsuccessfully ran for mayor, and Stacie Arden Smith, who is Tłı̨chǫ and did not run for re-election after serving two terms as a councillor.

Candidate Roberta Marie Campbell, who is a member of the Inuvik Native Band, came in 16th place in Monday’s election.