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Amanda Ford-Rogers runs for NDP in federal election

Marijuana Party sticks with deVries; Greens still undecided

SARA MINOGUE

Amanda Ford-Rogers: "We need an MP who will demand an independent inquiry into the killing of Inuit sled dogs." (PHOTO COURTESY OF AMANDA FORD-ROGERS)

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Iqaluit's Amanda Ford-Rogers will represent the New Democratic Party in the Jan. 23 federal election.

"People have been asking me to run for two years," Ford-Rogers said Wednesday. "This time I finally caved in."

Originally from Whale Cove, Ford-Rogers moved to Iqaluit in 1999. She now lives in Apex with her husband and three sons, who are now, at ages 12, 10 and 6, old enough for her to campaign, Ford-Rogers said.

The NDP is the only party that speaks consistently about aboriginal housing issues, welfare, social issues and human rights, she said.

"We need [a member of parliament] who will speak out about overcrowded housing and other social problems. We need an MP who will speak out about the cost of living. We need an MP who will speak out when a federal minister says that Nunavut is going to get social programs funded on a per-capita basis only. And we need an MP who will demand an independent inquiry into the killing of Inuit sled dogs," she said in a press release.

Ford-Rogers, 35, has worked as a tenant relations officer and community health representative in Whale Cove, and as a finance officer with the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board and a health liaison officer for the Qikiqtani Inuit Association. She is the constituency assistant for Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo, who is also serving as her campaign manager.

"She's not afraid to say what needs to be said," said Tootoo, "and that's one thing we've been missing up here."

Ford-Rogers is busy working the phones, making contacts and looking for more people who can help her campaign. She said she will travel during her campaign, but is still planning which communities she will visit.

David Aglukark Sr., a pastor from Arviat, represents the Conservatives. Aglukark has been traveling in the Kivalliq region, and Nunatsiaq News was still unable to reach Aglukark before press time on Wednesday.

Liberal incumbent Nancy Karetak-Lindell planned to return to Iqaluit from Ottawa today, and eventually back to her home community of Arviat for the Christmas holidays. Karetak-Lindell planned to hold-off on her campaign until the New Year, when, according to her executive assistant Susan Scullion, she plans to "come out all guns blazing."

"She's not taking this election for granted."

Nunatsiaq News caught up with Ed deVries, candidate for the Marijuana Party of Canada, at the Nunavut Court of Justice on Wednesday, where he faces several marijuana-related charges: laundering proceeds of crime, one count of drug trafficking and one count of conspiracy to commit trafficking.

DeVries credits the RCMP for turning him on to politics.

"[The charges] really catapulted me to the leadership of the Marijuana Party of Nunavut," he said.

"Then the little green leaf will appear on the ballot, for the first time," he said. He's campaigning on reforming the legal system to make marijuana legal.

The Green Party plans to announce its Nunavut candidate today, to coincide with a visit from party leader Jim Harris, who will be in Iqaluit to announce the party's strategy for implementing the Kyoto accord.

Contrary to information posted on a CBC web site last week, Nedd Kenney will not run again for the party for personal reasons, said an Ottawa-based organizer, Matt Takach.

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