Shauna Morgan

Member Yellowknife North

Shauna Morgan was elected to the 20th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly to represent the constituency of Yellowknife North.

Ms. Morgan was born and raised in Barrie, Ontario. Having called Yellowknife home for the past 15 years, she has embraced the dynamic, creative and eclectic lifestyle in Old Town near Great Slave Lake.

Ms. Morgan’s commitment to public service is evident in her two consecutive terms on Yellowknife City Council from 2015 to 2022. During this time, she held pivotal roles, including Deputy Mayor, Chair of the Community Energy Planning Committee, and Chair of the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness.

Ms. Morgan holds degrees in International Development (B.A. Hons) and International Affairs (M.A.), specializing in community economic and political development in remote and Indigenous communities globally. She worked with a grassroots cross-cultural peacebuilding movement in the Philippines from 2002 to 2003. Her master's research delved into negotiations between mineral exploration companies and First Nations in Canada, focusing on land access during the earliest stages of mineral exploration.

Over the past 15 years in Yellowknife, Ms. Morgan has prioritized work at the community level. Working with private consulting firms and a non-profit thinktank focused on clean energy, she served as a resource person to Indigenous governments and communities across the NWT. Her contributions ranged from planning renewable energy projects to housing initiatives, building cross-cultural environmental research and monitoring programs, and navigating the complexities of major resource extraction projects.

Ms. Morgan has drawn on her well-rounded skill set to diversify her professional pursuits. While serving as a City Councillor, she managed her own piano teaching studio, worked as an on-the-Land educator with Bushkids NWT, and contributed for many years as a full-time member of the Snow Castle construction crew and snow carving team. Additionally, she engaged in facilitation and consulting contracts.

Active in the arts community, Ms. Morgan provides piano accompaniment for Yellowknife’s Aurora Chorealis (adult community choir) and Fireweed Children’s Choir. She served as a Board member for the Yellowknife Women’s Society and a weekly volunteer with Food Rescue and has dedicated time to the Yellowknife Ski Club and Victim Services.

Ms. Morgan’s love for the land is palpable in her adventurous spirit. She enjoys a myriad of outdoor activities in the North across all seasons, from whitewater and flatwater canoe trips to hiking in Auyuittuq National Park and along the Canol Trail. Her passion extends to cycle touring, cross-country skiing, mountain biking, and hunting for moose and ducks with her partner.

Yellowknife North Electoral District

Committees

Accountability and Oversight
Social Development
Economic Development & Environment
Shauna Morgan
Yellowknife North
Member's Office

Yellowknife NT X1A 2L9
Canada

P.O. Box
1320
Email
Shauna_Morgan@ntassembly.ca
Phone
(867) 767-9143(link is a phone number)
Extension
12170
Constituency Office

Statements in Debates

Question 543-20(1): Elimination of Housing Maintainer Course
Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 46)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister have a role in at least communicating with the college the importance of offering courses like this in communities to make them more accessible as opposed to requiring people to go to campus communities, or is that outside the Minister's role and solely the purview of the Aurora College board of directors? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, I'll leave it there for now, and I think it will be a really important discussion that's coming up when we get Aurora College directly in the room to chat with them. Thank you.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you, Madam Chair. Continuing a little bit along that line in terms of the transfer -- or the allocation of funding given to Aurora College, so last year we -- this Assembly provided an extra half a million dollars to Aurora College to support the transformation process to a polytechnic. Does the Minister know what we have to show for the half a million dollars that was given in the last fiscal year in terms of what progress has been made by Aurora College? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean, I know that there's also been a lot of work to try to ramp up the SNAP program and that might help feed into some of these programs, right, so if we're getting more students, you know, leading them towards apprenticeships then we'll see more uptake as they get a bit older. And so it does seem like there has been some increases -- okay, and so now I'm looking at page 14 in the business plan.

There has at least been an increase from 5 to 6. Okay, if I go up -- in any case, has the Minister tried to identify, like, what are the barriers to expanding that SNAP...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you, Madam Chair. And so the page in the business plan I was looking at is page 18, in case that helps. But I'll -- I mean, on a related topic, you know, in the budget there's -- we've got the trades and occupations wage subsidy that's the same as last year, so $922,000. Is this fully subscribed? So those are grants to provide financial assistance to employers to hire Northerners and support that individual if they get apprenticeship or occupation certification. Can the Minister tell us whether that's fully subscribed and is there more demand for this program than we can offer with the...

Question 524-20(1): Climate Change Curriculum
Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm wondering if the department has tried to engage or partner with non-profits, such as Ecology North, to try to incorporate more northern resources into curriculums, you know, for all the different grades. I know Ecology North doesn't have the resources to create a whole curriculum, but they might be able to add or support and work with communities. Has the department tried to work creatively with non-profits in that way? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 524-20(1): Climate Change Curriculum
Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So my questions now are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. On a similar theme, so the students we spoke with yesterday noted that in the new BC curriculum, there's no specific course about climate change and its impacts on northern environments or northern people. It's left to individual teachers to find their own resources or partner with non-profits like Ecology North to incorporate that into the curriculum. So that means some NWT students might get to learn about it and some won't. Has the department of education looked at creating a made-in-the...

Question 521-20(1): Climate Change Action Plan
Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay, so that is good news.

The next question is when will there be plain language materials produced about the climate change action plan and the milestones that are being reached so that ordinary residents of the territory, including young people, can read the plan and think, okay, this is speaking to me. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Ms. Morgan’s Reply
Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Mr. Speaker, when people have asked me what do I think about this year's operating budget, I've been describing it as a status quo budget. The government describes it as providing stability. It reminds of a lesson I've learned while paddling some of the beautiful rivers of the Northwest Territories, especially whitewater rivers. So when you're in turbulent waters and the boat feels like it's about to tip, your instinct is to grab the gunnels of the boat and to try to stabilize yourself. But the problem is that that doesn't work and sometimes it makes you even more unstable. You can't control...

Debates of , 20th Assembly, 1st Session (day 45)

Okay, thank you to the Minister for that response, and I do think we should follow up in our direct meeting with Aurora College.

Does the Minister have an idea of what we should expect to see in terms of value for money for that extra half a million? I know in total, Aurora College transformation in the last fiscal year it was just over a million but Regular Members lobbied for, you know, bumping it up from what it had been budgeted for because we have said over and over again that the Aurora College transformation is important. Does the Minister even know what we're -- what we should expect to...