TSIIGEHTCHIC/ARCTIC RED RIVER
It was the first day of the legislative assembly's final session before the election next month and Jessica Van Loon was so nervous she almost couldn't bring herself to enter the building.

"I didn't even want to walk in," she admits.

Van Loon, a Grade 9 student at Chief Paul Niditchie School in Tsiigehtchic, is a participant in the GNWT's page program, which is designed to give junior high school students a first-hand look at how public policy is developed and decisions made at a territorial level. Pages have a host of tasks they perform throughout the day, everything from opening doors to handing out documents to re-filling glasses of water.

"You have to make sure everyone's taken care of," she says.

Van Loon wasn't intimidated by the tasks themselves, it was having to do them in front of some of the most powerful political figures in the territory that made her anxious.

"What if I mess up?" she asked herself that first day. "And I did!"

At point one she was taken by surprise when the speaker of the house called upon an MLA at the same time she was moving to replace his glass of water.

"I was grabbing his water to go fill it up and his chair came back he knocked me to the side!"

She's able to laugh about it now and says even though it was embarrassing she did her best to play it cool.

"Everybody looked at me, but I just went and bowed and ran out."

Van Loon heard about the page program from her social studies teacher and it sounded like a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity. She says that the tasks like fetching water or documents aren't appealing to her, but getting a glimpse into the legislative process makes it all worthwhile.

She thinks that the best thing about being an MLA is the opportunity to give a voice to those who may not have one.

"You get to represent your community," she says, adding that it's been exciting to hear some issues relevant to Tsiigehtchic being brought up during debate.

"Like the ferry," she says, referring to the MV Louis Cardinal ferry crossing the Arctic Red River near Tsiigehtchic, which came up during discussion while she was sitting in the chamber. "When we were coming here, we almost missed the plane. We were waiting for an hour, and we almost missed the plane. Three minutes (later) and they never would have took our bags."

Van Loon recognizes the important role of MLAs, but says she has learned from her time as a page that being an elected representative is a demanding job. She has a friend on student council, and hasn't totally ruled out getting involved too, although she's already on the basketball team and enjoys Ski-Dooing and playing floor hockey with friends.

When asked if she might one day like to be a member of the legislative assembly, Van Loon shook her head emphatically and laughed.

"No, no, no, no. Definitely not," she says. "I think it's too much work and too hard being away from your family."

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