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Madeleine Redfern

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Madeleine Redfern
Mayor of Iqaluit, Nunavut
In office
2015 – 5 November 2019
Preceded byMary Wilman
Succeeded byKenny Bell
In office
17 December 2010[1] – 20 October 2012
Preceded byElisapee Sheutiapik
Succeeded byJohn Graham
Personal details
Born1967
Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories, Canada
Occupationpolitician

Madeleine Redfern (born 1967) is a Canadian Inuit politician, who was elected mayor of Iqaluit, Nunavut in a by-election on 13 December 2010. She was the city's mayor until 2019.

She was born in Iqaluit (then called Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories).[1] Redfern graduated from the Akitsiraq Law School before becoming the first Inuk to be offered a clerkship at the Supreme Court of Canada. She was selected by outgoing Justice Louise Arbour to clerk under her replacement, Justice Louise Charron.[citation needed]

Redfern is a businessperson, consultant and social advocate in Iqaluit, and was most recently the executive director of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, looking into the legacy of historical effects of federal government policies on Eastern Arctic Inuit during the period from the 1950s through the 1980s. She ran as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut in the 2008 territorial election in Iqaluit Centre, but lost to incumbent MLA Hunter Tootoo.[citation needed]

She is an outspoken critic of Nunavut's government. "We live in a chilly banana republic," she said of the territorial government, a short time before becoming mayor.[2]

On 24 July 2012, Redfern announced at a meeting of the Iqaluit City Council that she would not run for re-election in the next election.[3] She was succeeded in that fall's municipal election by John Graham, but Graham resigned two years into his term and was succeeded by Mary Wilman. In the 2015 election, Redfern ran for mayor again, defeating Wilman.[4]

Electoral record

[edit]
2015 Mayoral election
Mayoral Candidate Vote[5] %
Madeleine Redfern 1,005 59.40
Mary Wilman 527 31.15
Noah Paptsie 160 9.46
Iqaluit mayoral by-election, 2010
Name Vote %
  Madeleine Redfern 377 30.26
  Allen Hayward 314 25.20
  Paul Kaludjak 314 25.20
  Jim Little 241 19.34
Total Valid Ballots 1246 100%
Voter Turnout % Rejected Ballots: 16
2008 Nunavut general election
[6] Name Vote %
  Hunter Tootoo 356 62.2%
  Madeleine Redfern 160 27.9%
  Joe Sageaktook 57 9.9%
Total Valid Ballots 573 100%
Voter Turnout: 61.2% Rejected Ballots 3

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Madeleine Redfern elected Iqaluit mayor". CBC News North. 14 December 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  2. ^ "The trials of Nunavut: Lament for an Arctic nation". The Globe and Mail. 1 April 2011.
  3. ^ "Iqaluit mayor won't run for re-election". CBC.ca. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  4. ^ "Meet Iqaluit's new mayor and council". CBC North, 20 October 2015.
  5. ^ "Photos: Meet Iqaluit's new mayor and council". CBC News. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  6. ^ "2008 General Election Official Results" (PDF). Elections Nunavut. p. 2. Retrieved 29 April 2020.