MLA Katrina Nokleby’s colleagues in the legislative assembly have unanimously supported the NWT integrity commissioner’s findings that Nokleby violated the MLA Code of Conduct by returning to Yellowknife during the wildfire evacuation in late August.
She will be fined $4,000, it was decided Friday.
Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon expressed how serious he thought Nokleby’s breach of conduct was.
“The transgression is not to be taken lightly as it goes against the very principle of responsibility for public safety that we as elected officials are entrusted to uphold,” he said. “It demonstrates a severe lack of judgement… we’re not above the law that we pass in this House.”
He also pointed out the more severe punishment decided upon for his predecessor, Steve Norn, who resigned from the legislative assembly in November 2021 before he could be formally removed by his colleagues for violating Covid public health orders.
Edjericon attempted to make further comments about Nokleby’s conduct in general but he was ruled out of order by the Speaker and cut off.
Julie Green, MLA for Yellowknife Centre, said residents’ reaction to the news of Nokleby’s return to Yellowknife was one of anger due to Nokleby seeming to have “no shared sense of anxiety and hardship. There was no compelling reason for the MLA to be in Yellowknife… so in summary this was a selfish decision with no benefit to the community.”
Green added that Nokleby’s absense during the discussion of her conduct and punishment showed that she has “nothing but disdain for this House.”
Yellowknife South MLA Caroline Wawzonek noted that Nokleby, MLA for Great Slave, told the integrity commissioner that her emotional state was also a factor in her decision-making, but Wawzonek said many of her constituents also struggled with their emotional state and they couldn’t justify returning to Yellowknife because of it.
Frame Lake MLA Kevin O’Reilly made a motion Friday that the intergrity commissioner’s recommendation for a $7,500 fine be reduced to $4,000 since Nokleby made a $3,500 donation to a charity that he did not identify.
Hay River North MLA R.J. Simpson seconded the motion.
O’Reilly noted that he otherwise fully accepts the integrity commissioner’s findings.