Nineteen teenagers from around the territory got to be MLA for a day.Grade 9 and 10 students, each representing their home constituencies, brought issues that matter to them to the floor of the legislature during the 16th Youth Parliament May 17.
Representing Nanukput, Rhoda Felix-Pokiak told the house she wants more training programs and job opportunities for people in Tuktoyuktuk.
There are only three stores and one school in the hamlet and many of the jobs there require a level of education that most adults in her community don't have, said Felix-Pokiak.
"My solution to this problem is simple: build more places of employment and volunteer opportunities.
Stuff like restaurants, stores, places for entertainment like theatres and sports complexes," 15-year-old said in her member's statement.
Tuktoyuktuk does not have enough money to build these commercial spaces, she said, but the territorial and federal governments could help.
"I do not know a lot about politics," said Felix-Pokiak, "but I would like to see a change in my home community and the communities in the Nanukput riding."
She was "really nervous" to speak in front of a big audience, Felix-Pokiak later confessed during a break.
"I'm not usually the type of a person talk in front of a lot of people, but it was pretty good," she said.
The students spent the week together in Yellowknife preparing for the mock sitting.
Clerks and cabinet staff taught them how members' statements and motions are written and how consensus government works.
Each student was assigned to come with issues and ideas to discuss, said Danielle Mager, a spokesperson for the legislative assembly.
The young MLAs brought forward motions on drug and alcohol abuse among youth, improving high school graduation rates and investing in mining.
Mager said all the students got along well.
"It's always amazing to watch them at the beginning, when they come in and they're super shy and nervous and then as the week progresses they all get to know each other and it's like (they are) best friends," she said.
David John Drygeese, youth MLA for Yellowknife Centre, hopes the statements made by his fellow "members, a.k.a. friends," have an impact.
"It happened before," said Drygeese, 14. "The youth had to bring something up and then their MLA heard it and so they brought it up... in the chamber."
While the young people assumed the roles of elected officials, MLAs took over as pages.
Cory Vanthuyne, the real MLA for Yellowknife North, was one of them.
"I may be resenting the words I told the youth MLAs today, which was, ‘make sure you write a lot of notes and pass a lot of notes around,' because they sure are and they're keeping us busy," he said.
Vanthuyne said the Youth Parliament allows students to speak about how territorial issues affect young people.
"It's a very interesting perspective and one that makes my mind and eyes open a little bit wider," he said.
Vanthuyne, a city councillor-turned-MLA, offered some advice for youth interested in entering politics: get involved in school councils and community organizations now.
These are places where young people can learn how decisions are made and policies evolve, he said.
"It's through that process that you'll discover whether you really feel the passion for wanting to make change at higher levels and really work towards becoming an elected representative," he said.
As the MLA for Hay River South, Reegan Jungkind played the part of Wally Schumann, the minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Jungkind talked about economic diversity in her minister's statement.
"When you're a cabinet minister at Youth Parliament, you're supposed to think of the territory as a whole, instead of just representing your constituency," she said.
Jungkind said young people have ideas about what they want the Northwest Territories to look like in the future – their future.
"Right now our biggest industry is mining," she said.
"I see the future as a diverse thing, where people can work in whatever industry they want to, not just having to go into mining or into tourism."
Jungkind has held political ambitions since Grade 6 and hopes to be a real MLA one day.