Richard Edjericon

Member Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh

Richard Edjericon was first elected to represent the district of Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh in by election during the 19th Assembly in 2022 and was re-elected to the 20th Assembly later the next year.

A descendant of Treaty 8 Chipewyan signator Chief Oliver Edjericon, Richard Edjericon was born and raised in Little Buffalo River near Fort Resolution. He attended Diamond Jenness Secondary High School in Hay River and Akaitcho Hall in Yellowknife.

Obtaining his journeyman carpenter’s certification from Thebacha College in Fort Smith, Mr. Edjericon has nearly four decades of experience as a journeyman certified carpenter working through out the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in residential and commercial construction.

Eventually his work in construction brought him to the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation as the North Slave Maintenance Coordinator. He would also become the General Manager for the Yellowknives Dene First Nation Housing Division.

Mr. Edjericon’s dedication to his community led him to seek the position of Elected Head Chief for Dettah and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, holding that office from 1999 to 2003. He also became the Acting Grand Chief Spokeperson on behalf of the Akaitcho Chiefs for the Akaitcho Territory Government. He later joined the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board in 2007 and soon became chair, reappointed to this position in 2011.

Mr. Edjericon’s proudest moments include settling boundary disputes, signing political accords, creating fairer nation to nation relationships, and fostering economic development. As MLA he brings with him a passion for a fairer, more prosperous North, and a great depth of knowledge in housing, economics, and politics. He lives in Ndilo with his wife, Aleida.”

Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh Electoral District

Committees

Tu Nedhé - Wiilideh
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Phone
Extension
12185
Mobile
Constituency Office
Email

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 165)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the early days I was involved as a young councillor for YKDFN and impact benefit agreements with our community now, also with resource development agreements in our communities as well. So I've been involved with working with BHP, Diavik, and De Beers, and now we're getting to the point where these mines are going into reclamation. And so having said that, you know, our communities really are really in need of, you know, new mines to come up and to, you know, look for work for our young people in our community. And, you know, I was pleased today to talk...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 165)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since June of this year Live Power, a Canadian exploration company with its head office in Vancouver, has been drilling for hard rock lithium on the mineral leases near Yellowknife and N'dilo and Dettah. Live Power has one of the most exciting exploration portfolios of hard rock lithium projects globally, with Yellowknife lithium project being the flagship project. Live Power commenced a 45,000-meter drill program, and the drill result for 40 drill holes. It illustrates extensive width and excellent grades of lithium in the Tu NedheWiilideh riding. The NWT...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 165)

Thank you, Madam Chair. In regards to this motion, you know, the last few days I have been speaking about treaty rights and Crown consultation and accommodations. And I just want to let people know that, you know, when we First Nation communities in my particular riding, we don't have settled claims. We rely on core funding that comes in from Ottawa directly to our First Nation based on population. And we also rely on the resources we get from the mining industry to offset some of these costs. And I keep saying that we signed an oath, and we swore an oath too as well, to respect the treaties...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 165)

Thank you, Madam Chair. And, again, you know, I always ask myself how did we find ourselves in this situation? How did we get here? You know, communication is a big part of, you know, trying to get this information out to the public. And what went down here it was it was really scary for a lot of people, especially in my riding Tu Nedhe where I was in Fort Resolution. On one hand, we had fires happening in the south of us in Fort Smith and then you got the one in Hay River. Depending on which way the wind is blowing, Fort Resolution, we're caught in there. The roads get shut off, but we're...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 165)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Minister. Does the government have plans to support the critical mineral industry with green power to help ensure NWT resources will be competitive in the global market where low carbon products will prevail? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I also want to make a couple comments. We got to keep remembering that education is a treaty right. Based on the treaties that was made in 1900, and Treaty 8, my great great grandfather's the one that signed the treaty in Fort Resolution. And Treaty 8 Treaty 11 was made in 1921 up and down the valley. And when the treaty was made, it was made with the Crown. And the Government of Canada was supposed to uphold those treaties. That's why we got a Governor General, and here we have a Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. When we do an oath to office here, it says...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So in other words, we're not going to get no report in this at the end of this session and it's going to carry over to the next government.

Will the Minister drop this pointless investigation and own up to his mistakes that were made by offering the community of Lutselk'e a sincere apology to this House? And for the record, I just want a simple yes or no today. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister provide an update to the House on the status of this investigation? We were told it's going to take six months. Here we are a year later. We still don't see anything. And we're concerned that the court already made a decision this is unlawful. And we want to know here today that if you can give us an update on where things are at. Thank you.

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today marks more than a year since a deeply troubling and unconstitutional event has cast a shadow over my riding of Tu NedheWiilideh. I speak not to dwell on the past but to demand justice and healing for our friends and the neighbours, who are Indigenous people, that have suffered greatly at the hands of this government's reckless action of the raid in Lutselk'e Dene First Nation Timber Bay culture camp on September 15th, 2022.

One year ago, the unthinkable happened when Lutselk'e Dene First Nation culture camp was raided violating the very essence of our constitution...

Debates of , 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 164)

Thank you. I want to really bring this one up as well. I mean, it's a 20242025 Capital Estimates budgets. You know, for what we're looking at housing this year, I'm not sure where to start, but I already voiced my concerns in March about this issue of housing. You know, I guess as the Finance minister and the next government coming in, they're going to have some tough decisions ahead of them. Overall, you know, we got a budget of $2.2 billion, we're $1.6 billion in the hole with this fire season as it is; we're going to be reaching that in no time. You know, we got grants and contributions...