Long-time Yellowknifer Thom Jarvis has declared his intention to run to become a member of the NWT Legislative Assembly in the Riding of Yellowknife Centre.
In breaking the news to CKLB Friday evening, Jarvis says he both works and lives downtown in the riding and is confident that he is the best candidate for the job.
Jarvis has worked for almost a decade as an economic development lender at the NWT Métis-Dene Development Fund and is a former broadcaster at CJCD, now known as the Moose.
He was also a board member at the Akaitcho Business Development Corporation and has sat on the board of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce.
He says Yellowknife’s struggling economy is his main focus adding that his experience in the financial sector gives him strong insights into what’s currently working and what isn’t in terms of both the city’s and the territory’s economy.
Jarvis says his job puts him in close contact with Indigenous people and he has developed strong relationships with many of them, both professionally and socially.
“I wanted to make my announcement on CKLB because it is an Indigenous owned and operated radio station and the riding of Yellowknife Centre has a high percentage of Indigenous people living in it,” Jarvis said.
He adds that he has no illusions about the social ills that plague the downtown core.
“It’s going to take some creative thinking to make Yellowknife’s downtown more liveable for all its residents, including those struggling with mental health and addiction issues, as well as its business people and tourists.”
Jarvis says cleaner, cheaper energy for the city and the territory is also high on his priority list.
He will be up against current Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green and social activist Arlene Hache, an Order of Canada recipient.
They are the only other candidates who have declared for the Oct. 1 election in Yellowknife Centre so far.