Women inspired by campaign school
More than 40 take part in workshop; Jan Fullerton to run for MLA
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Published Friday, February 13, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Jan Fullerton said she'll take lessons learned at a weekend workshop for women wanting to enter politics and apply them in her campaign for Frame Lake MLA.
The 41-year-old first-time candidate who works for Skills Canada said she's wanted to run for political office since she was a teenager and found the campaign school for women - run by the Status of Women Council NWT at the Yellowknife Inn last Friday and Saturday - to be helpful as she launches her campaign for the seat of outgoing Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro.
"Wendy's actually not running again, but there are a few other people who have expressed interest ... it's already heating up," she said. "I really enjoyed (the workshop). There was some information that I'd heard. But the campaign school went way more in depth, and having heard from current politicians who've been involved in campaigns, having them there to answer questions was really helpful too."
Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, and Angela Merkel are female leaders who've been as tough as their male counterparts, says Bisaro who was among 12 guest speakers at the workshop. She said political women can be as tough as men but look at the world in a different way.
"Not that it's any better, but women and men have different perspectives on things and operate differently," she said. "I think the more diversity you have when dealing with something the better it is. There are women who have done as good a job as Angela Merkel leading Germany. (Margaret Thatcher) was called the iron lady for more than one reason."
Attendees heard about the role of an MLA, challenges faced while campaigning, rules, regulations, media training, fundraising, and how to build a team, said Lorraine Phaneuf, executive director of the Status of Women Council NWT. The idea was to encourage women to run and to train would-be campaign teams and featured a networking session at the legislative assembly on Friday.
"I think they left feeling empowered and feeling like we can continue the momentum of women to run," she said.
Fullerton said the advice she'll be taking to heart as she begins her campaign came from Megan Holsapple, communications officer for the Department of Transportation.
"I think my biggest fault is that, in dealing with the media, I say too much," she said. "Not that I divulge too much information, but that I tend to go on and on and bore them. I need to learn to be more concise."
Bisaro said women are under represented at the legislative assembly. Bisaro and Hay River MLA Jane Groenewegen are the only women in the 19 member government.
"That's 11 per cent I think," she said. "But the population (of women in the NWT) is around 50 per cent. Optimum would be 50 per cent men, 50 per cent women, but I think the best in the country is about 36 per cent."
The city's deputy mayor Linda Bussey said she wasn't able to attend last week's event because she was entertaining friends from out of town but did go to the networking session. She said she was approached by a woman who wanted to know how time-consuming her job is, and wanted to know if she'd be running again in October. She will.
"The are things that I started in this term that I want to complete, and I hope to have complete in the next term," she said. "I want to have continuity."
Bussey said women in government do work differently than men.
"They listen differently," she said. "Not saying it's better, we just have a different way of listening. And that might be the difference. Maybe we're not formulating our answer when we're listening. We're listening and analyzing what's being said."
Speakers at the campaign school for women
- Sue Glowach - GNWT communications advisor
- Wendy Bisaro - Frame Lake MLA
- Mark Heyck - mayor
- Amanda Mallon - constituency assistant to Wendy Bisaro
- Rebecca Alty - city councillor
- Sheila Montgomery - former-city councillor
- Lisa Dempster - member of the House of Assembly for Newfoundland and Labrador
- Bob McLeod - premier
- Glen Abernethy - minister of Health and Social Services
- Tina Gargan - president of the Status of Women Council NWT
- Megan Holsapple - communications officer for the Department of Transport
Source: Lorraine Phaneuf, executive director, Status of Women Council NWT
