Ed. note: this is one of a series of riding profiles the Star is publishing in the leadup to the Oct. 11 election.

Pelly-Nisutlin was created from the amalgamation of Ross River/Southern Lakes and the Faro ridings in 2002.

One of the largest in the territory, the riding includes several of the Yukon's rural communities, including Teslin, Ross River, Faro, Johnson's Crossing and Little Salmon.

The riding received some attention in early August when the current MLA and Minister of Justice, Marian Horne, lost the Yukon Party nomination in the riding to Stacey Hassard.

Horne is currently the Yukon Party candidate for Whitehorse Centre.

All three major parties are running candidates in Pelly-Nisutlin, with one independent, Ross River business owner Elvis Presley.

Hassard has been in local politics for the last decade. He served two terms on the Teslin School council as well as two on town council, and is currently deputy mayor of Teslin.

The 42-year-old local businessman has lived in the riding his whole life and raised three children there with his wife of 20 years.

Hassard grew up in Teslin and attended F.H. Collins Secondary School. He has been a small business owner and bought the Nisutlin Trading Post and North Lake Motel, which he sold in 2010.

He currently works in the bulk fuel industry.

Hassard's major priorities for the riding are maintaining the continuing economic growth in the region by balancing the interests of industry and conservation groups, improving wildlife management practices and improving the Robert Campbell, Alaska Highway and the South Canol.

Housing is another key issue for Hassard. "We need to make land available for the private sector to alleviate the housing crisis and free up land for development as well,” he says.

Carol Geddes is the NDP candidate for the riding.

Geddes is a writer and filmmaker who was also born in Teslin. Geddes attended Carleton University in Ottawa and at the B.C. Institute of Justice, where she received certification in conflict resolution.

Geddes has produced several films for the National Film Board, including Picturing a People and Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief.

One of her latest works, Anash and the Legacy of the Sun Rock, won a world media prize at the Banff Media Festival and was nominated for a Gemini Award.

Geddes is the first aboriginal person to sit on the Canada Council for the Arts and has held positions on the Teslin Tlingit Council, the Yukon Heritage Resources Board, the Canadian Council for the Arts, the Yukon Human Rights Commission, the Canadian Conference of the Arts, the National Film Board of Canada and the Women in Media Foundation.

Geddes has also spent many years writing and producing films about social issues from domestic violence, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and alcohol abuse.

"I have always had a deep social conscience,” she says. "And now it is being channelled in a new direction with politics.”

Major priorities for Geddes include increasing resource sharing, predominantly from the mining sector, creating further First Nations youth education training programs and encouraging co-operation between conservation and industrial development in Pelly-Nisutlin.

Increasing representation for the communities is also a major issue for Geddes.

"The people of the area's concerns are very different,” says Geddes.

"People feel neglected in terms of social policy, they have very basic concerns, very little infrastructure, little return. They have such strength and beauty in their identity as a culture as people, but they need more investment and training, opportunities other Yukoners are receiving already.”

Carl Sidney represents the Liberals in Pelly-Nisutlin.

Sidney grew up in Teslin, attended F.H. Collins and has lived in the community for most of his life.

While abroad, Sidney worked as field engineer with the Canadian military and attended a Vancouver community college.

He has worked in hard rock mining and diamond drilling and ran and operated a canoe factory, producing canvas and cedar canoes.

Sidney has also served on the Teslin Tlingit Council as deputy chief and helped to finalize the First Nations land claims agreements there.

He is currently the co-chair of the Yukon River Intertribal Watershed Council and has been a member of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board since the organization's inception.

A major issue for Sidney is fostering cross-party co-operation to improve conditions for Yukoners.

"If we could get our leaders to commit to even a few of the good things that they promise the Yukon, imagine how good it would be to live here,” he says.

Other priorities for Sidney include working with the First Nations to increase their role in the governing process in the territory, improvements to the education system, bringing a university to Yukon, improving the highways and increasing regulations for big game hunting.

"I think I have all the knowledge and the background to be effective in government, to create some changes, which I think are very necessary at this stage, especially for the youth coming up behind,” he says.

"My issues are what the people want to bring forward. I never promise anything except that I will hear them, I will meet with them and I will pay attention to them. I have worked with the First Nations, the boards, communities; now it is time to put it to use, to make it come to fruition,” he says.

Presley, the independent candidate, is a local entrepreneur. Presley was born in Whitehorse and has lived in the Yukon his whole life.

He invented the Rendezvous cartoon characters Sourdoe Sam, Sourpuss Sally, Baby Nugget and worked in the souvenir industry selling pins, clothing, patches and other items for tourists. Next year, he plans to open a café in Ross River, called Graceland Two.

Major issues for Presley include creating a trust fund for Yukoners to be funded through souvenir sales, establishing community beautification projects, improving the highways in the area and creating a cemetery for First Nations and non-First Nations couples to be buried in together.

Presley also wants to increase resource royalties to First Nations communities.

"Wherever there is a mine on First Nations land, they should be receiving a larger cut of the royalties, anywhere they operate,” he says.

Presley is running because he believes his community is underrepresented by their political leadership.

"MLAs rarely show up to the communities to talk to people about what they need,” he says.

"I would go to the communities and do a show for the whole community and then sit down with the people who make the decisions and find out what is best for them, what they really need.”

In the 2006 election, Horne took office with 46 per cent of the vote.

In 2002, the position was held by Hassard's brother, Dean, also of the Yukon Party, who was also elected with 46 per cent of the vote.

Prior to amalgamation, the ridings of Ross River/Southern Lakes and Faro were held by the NDP.