Sallie Ross is the second candidate hoping to replace Finance Minister Robert C. McLeod as the representative for Inuvik Twin Lakes.
Ross, who’s worked as a nurse and the regional manager of an income security program, will compete with candidate Lesa Simmler to succeed McLeod’s 15 years as the riding’s MLA. In a Saturday Facebook announcement, Ross said her public and community service experience would allow her to be a “passionate advocate for the residents of Inuvik.”
“I believe in living and demonstrating the values and principles I was taught as a child: honesty, respect, integrity, hard work and determination combined with compassion, humility and caring for others,” she wrote in the post.
Identifying “as a proud member of the Gwich’in Nation,” Ross has also worked with youth as a volleyball and soccer coach, and is a founding member of the Inuvik Community Events Society responsible for the annual New Year's Eve feast and dance.
In her announcement, she wrote that she would “work to ensure that programs and services are in place that benefit the families and individual residents of the Twin Lakes Riding and, ultimately, Inuvik as a whole.”
Ross candidacy signals a rare race in town. With Alfred Moses’ recent announcement that he would not seek reelection in Boot Lake this fall, there won’t be incumbent on the ballot in Inuvik for the first time in almost three decades.