Margaret Dawn Anderson who? Undoubtedly many people in Yellowknife were asking themselves that question Thursday after getting word that the territory has a new senator.
Perhaps the obscurity was part of her appeal. Her predecessor, Nick Sibbeston, who played a critical role in the development of responsible government in the Northwest Territories when he was premier and an MLA in the legislative assembly, alas, became a poster boy for everything Canadians hate about the Senate.
Whether it was his poor attendance record – he missed 51 out of 70 votes, according to a report commissioned by the NDP in 2014 – or his extravagant spending – he was ordered to pay back
$27,000 in ineligible claims in 2016 – the Sibbeston era fueled the belief among Canadians that a Senate appointment was really nothing more than a kind of lottery for political hacks and partisan has-beens.
That sentiment has not changed a year after his retirement.
If that's the case anderson hopefully represents a fresh start and perspective for the Senate where shortly after taking office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decreed Liberal appointees will no longer be part of the party caucus.
Not only is Anderson a woman, which many Northerners lobbied for following Sibbeston's retirement, she is Indigenous – the 19th Indigenous senator in Canadian history.
Through her work in the courts, as a social worker and with her experiences in restorative and community justice anderson will bring with her an integral understanding of NWT community needs and hopefully, a strong voice to the Red Chamber.
And although the Tuktoyaktuk resident is relatively unknown anderson will bring experience to her new role, having spent more than 20 years as a public servant with the territorial government and having participated in Inuvialuit self-government negotiations as a policy analyst intern with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.
Anderson is also the recipient of two Premier's Awards of Excellence – in 2012 she was awarded as an individual and in 2015 as part of the Wellness Court Program Implementation Team.
In 2015, a group of 80 prominent Canadian former female politicians, academics and businesswomen penned a letter to Trudeau noting that of the 83 senators currently sitting, only 30 were women. In that letter, Trudeau was urged to fill the remaining 22 vacancies with women. And while they haven't quite reached parity in the Senate, as that group was calling for, the three women recently appointed to Senate have bumped that percentage even higher.
Anderson certainly checks all the right boxes, not only for our feminist prime minister eyeing a contentious election next year, but for the general public who have grown tired of the brazen patronage of party insiders being rewarded at the public trough.
Still, the challenges for legitimacy are great. A recent Nanos poll found only 5.9 per cent of those polled thought the Senate did good or important work.
Anderson has a tough road ahead of her if it is her goal to prove to Northerners and Canadians in general, that the work she will be doing there will matter to them. On that challenge we wish her well.
She can start by showing up for votes and not trying to claim expenses she is not entitled to collect.