Melissa Syer’s vision for a cultural shift at the City of Yellowknife

Yellowknife’s mayor-elect wants an early shift to a City Hall that’s “easier to navigate” and more ready to enable and empower residents.

Melissa Syer, the winner of Monday’s mayoral election, takes over from the outgoing Ben Hendriksen on November 2.

In an interview with Cabin Radio the day after the election, Syer described the “cultural shift” that she thinks could be an important step in the new council’s opening 12 months.

She said many people had described “trying to access or utilize or correspond with City Hall and being frustrated by that experience.”

“I think there’s lots of work we can do to make that process smoother for lots of folks, which would in turn result in getting more things done,” said Syer, who began work as a City Hall employee earlier this year before running for the mayor’s office.

“I’ve seen it myself in my short time there,” she added. “When someone comes to the city with all the plans for a festival, and all they need is a road shut down, we need to work with them in an excited way to enable that to happen.

“It’s good, you know? That’s what we want to happen in Yellowknife.”

Below, read a condensed transcript of our interview. You can listen to the full interview on The North, our northern news podcast, available wherever you get your shows.

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This interview was broadcast on October 20, 2026. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Ollie Williams: Is there a moment from last night that stuck?

Melissa Syer: When Garett Cochrane came down and we shared a hug. Just the fact that he came down to offer his congratulations shows the kind of person he is. We want the best for Yellowknife and I think we both ran campaigns trying to stay positive.

How are you feeling about walking into the mayor’s office? Are you apprehensive?

I’m excited. I’m naturally nervous. I’m a bit of a nervous person, so I don’t take lightly the responsibility and the work ahead, but I’m very excited about the council that was elected last night. I think we have a really strong team and there are very good people working in leadership at the city administration. I’m very confident that we can get some things done in the next four years.

I want to go back to the very start of this campaign. I’m interested to understand what it was that made you decide, “I’m going to do this.”

It looked like we were moving towards maybe just one candidate, and I thought it was very important that people had a choice.

Something my military background has given me is confidence. You’re always changing jobs every two years and, as soon as you get comfortable doing one job, they thrust you up to the next level. So I’m very used to stepping into bigger and bigger jobs.

I took a little pause when my daughter was born and took a step back career-wise. In this moment, it seemed like a huge opportunity. It seemed like I had the right skill set to help lead the city for the next four years.

You’ve centred your background in your campaign. You’ve pointed to the assets you feel like that military background brings. Do you feel like a military mayor of a military town?

No, I certainly don’t.

I keep coming back to the military because it was such a formative experience for me but since then, I’ve been at the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, worked for Skills Canada NWT, worked at the GNWT for three years.

I never really felt like Yellowknife was a military town. I’ve lived in some military towns and it doesn’t have that feel right now. They’re certainly a big part of our community, but it’s been a while for me since I wore a uniform.

People are going to be looking to you to talk about snow clearing as often as they’re looking to you to talk about major projects. How much homework have you done on that side of things?

That’s where this campaign has been really informative. I have gotten emails and emails from people with very specific questions and concerns, very valid and very real to their day-to-day life.

It’s been a very quick education these past five weeks in what people are interested in: cost of living, a more vibrant downtown, but also snow clearing, bike paths, accessibility, change rooms at the multiplex, making sure the girls on the boys’ hockey team have as much access to change rooms.

Is there one thing you really hope you can deliver some sort of movement on in the next 12 months?

In the near term, what I would like to see is a City Hall that is – either through perception or experience – easier to navigate for the public.

I’ve heard it from lots of different parts of this community, trying to access or utilize or correspond with City Hall and being frustrated by that experience. I think there’s lots of work we can do to make that process smoother for lots of folks, which would in turn result in getting more things done.

How do you do that?

There’s a lot of work being done on modernization. There’s lots of progress that can be made embracing some modernization in systems the city uses, which frees up time, resources.

I also think it’s a cultural shift. I want a city that is enabling. I’ve seen it myself in my short time there: when someone comes to the city with all the plans for a festival, and all they need is a road shut down, we need to work with them in an excited way to enable that to happen. It’s good, you know? That’s what we want to happen in Yellowknife.

What tone do you want to strike in representing the city on a bigger stage?

We love our outdoors, we love our green spaces, we’re community-minded people who look after one another. We’re people interested in living somewhere a little different, remote, and the challenges that come with that, but the rewards as well.

I think being a positive representative for the city can go a long way to building relationships.

Has there been anything during the campaign that made you think differently about the mayor’s job than when you began?

My day spent with the Yellowknife Street Support Network.

I went out with Brenda [Kowana, a street support network board member] after a few forums and candidate events where we were talking in broad terms about downtown and homelessness – the same things get recycled again and again. Brenda took me around and showed me the work she did, introduced me to the folks living the reality, and she did it with such dignity and care. It really affected me.

I think we have a pretty practical council that’s just been elected, and I think we can look at ways where the tools are actually in the municipal toolbox – looking at past successes, getting federal grants and money into the hands of the not-for-profits doing the work.

If we can do more work to make sure money is going to the people who are doing the work to help people in their day-to-day lives, that’ll be a big thing we can do.