Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern will not run for another term in the Nunavut capital’s upcoming election this fall.
The outgoing mayor made the announcement Tuesday at a council meeting and then posted her statement to social media.
She referenced Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo’s fall from power as a Liberal cabinet minister to an independent MP as one of the big challenges she and her city faced, saying she had to learn to lobby the federal government herself.
For much of her time as mayor Redfern has been the only woman on council.
In her message to council and to her constituents on Tuesday, she urged more women to run for public office.
“Our views matter,” she told APTN News. “We have a lot of very smart, capable Inuit and especially a lot of very smart capable, educated Inuit women, that should feel confident and comfortable being able to step up.
“We need to make sure that this is a safe place — as well that you’re not going to come into this room and be bullied…or receive sexist or misogynistic type of comments.”
kdriscoll.ca
