Going Green: Veteran Activist Declares for YK Centre

With Jane Groenewegen and Wendy Bisaro, the territory’s only female MLAs, due to retire this year, Yellowknife social activist Julie Green is hoping to fill the void.

“We have the country’s lowest proportion of female MLAs,” Green said Monday as she announced her intention to challenge sitting MLA Robert Hawkins for Yellowknife Centre in the November 23 election.

“That’s bad democracy. A woman’s place is in the assembly and I’m stepping forward to fill the void.”

With five months to go before the election, Green said she will be talking to voters about their ideas and issues.

“I look at the issues facing Yellowknife Centre and the territory and I see a need for change in the way we seek solutions,” she said in her campaign announcement.

“I want to be sent to the assembly with a checklist of priorities to pursue on behalf of the people.”

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A well-known former broadcast and print journalist, Green has been at the forefront of social issues in Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories for more than a decade. She holds graduate degrees in history and journalism.

Green has been working as a consultant and advisor to nonprofit organizations, “helping them increase their capacity to meet their financial needs.”

Green is on the board of United Way NWT, the NWT Community Services Organization,  the City of Yellowknife Social Issues Committee and the Yellowknife Housing Authority.

Green and her spouse Janice McKenna, owner and operator of McKenna Funeral Home, are parents of Tiffany.

Green describes herself as a leading activist in the gay and lesbian rights organization, Out North, and led lobbying efforts to ensure gay families gained equal marriage and adoption rights.

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