Ed. note: this is one of a series of riding profiles for the Nov. 7 election being published in random order.

On Monday, all eyes will be on Mountainview.

It’s the riding of Premier Darrell Pasloski, and in this election, he faces two challengers who share a background in fighting for what they believe.

Representing the Yukon NDP is Shaunagh Stikeman, a lawyer with a bent for social justice.

In the Liberal corner is Jeanie Dendys, the director of justice at the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and a long-time advocate for people caught up in the justice system.

Mountainview came under the spotlight early in the campaign, after reports surfaced that constituents who were intoxicated or very hung-over were driven to polls and misled to believe it was voting day.

Complaints received by the Kwanlin Dün First Nation (KDFN) prompted the KDFN Council to send a letter to all three candidates.

The letter expressed concern about “questionable tactics” used to get out the vote in the McIntyre neighbourhood, and Elections Yukon launched an investigation. That inquiry is ongoing.

Home to Hillcrest, McIntyre, Valleyview and Granger, Mountainview was created upon recommendations from the Electoral District Boundary Commission, and saw its first election as a riding in 2011.

That year, Pasloski took 44 per cent (480 votes) of the 1,081 ballots cast and beat out the next-closest candidate, the NDP’s Stephen Dunbar-Edge, by more than 100 votes.

Pasloski was a fresh face then, the new Yukon Party leader and a first-time MLA. This election, his five-year term as premier is on trial, as are 14 years of Yukon Party rule.

Darrell Pasloski

A pharmacist by trade, Pasloski moved up to the Yukon from Yorkton, Sask., 26 years ago after acquiring one of the Whitehorse’s two Shoppers Drug Mart franchises.

He would go on to take over the second Shoppers too, and raise three daughters and a son in the Yukon with his wife, Tammie.

As a health care provider, Pasloski says, his focus was on helping people. Moving into politics was a natural progression.  

Pasloski joined the Yukon Party because “it fits with who I am,” he says.

“Fiscally, I’m quite conservative. I believe that government should have to live within its means, just like families have to, to manage their households, or small businesses have to, but we’ve also been very socially progressive as well, and that’s sort of the uniqueness of our party.”

Pasloski noted some of the health and social infrastructure that was built or broke ground under his leadership: previously planned hospitals in Dawson City and Watson Lake; the MRI facility and emergency department expansion at Whitehorse General Hospital; the new Sarah Steele Building and the new Salvation Army shelter.

Those last two, he says, “were two priorities that I talked about five years ago that nobody else was was talking about.”

Of course, the premier has seen his share of controversy over last five years.

There was the Bill S-6 debacle, in which three Yukon First Nations governments took his government to court over amendments to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act that they said undermined their final agreements.

The federal bill, which Pasloski supported, is expected to be repealed in Parliament later this fall.

There is also the ongoing dispute over the Peel Watershed land use plan.

This case, involving the Yukon government and Yukon First Nations and environmental groups, is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada in March 2017.

But, in Pasloski’s view, this election isn’t about the last five years, it’s about the next five years.

And he’s got some ambitious plans for the upcoming term, should he be elected.

Those include $100 million in retrofits to Yukon and First Nation government buildings and schools to make them more energy-efficient, transitioning Yukon College to a university, and continuing to fiercely resist a carbon tax.

He’s heard it on the doorsteps in Mountainview: “People don’t want to pay a new tax.

“They say that it’s already expensive to live in the North and so they are supportive of finding an option to not create a new tax.”

His constituents appreciate a leader who will stand up for them, he says.

“Life is harder in the North,” he says.

“We want to pull our weight as Canadians, but sometimes the path you have to take in the North is a little bit different, and that’s what we’re standing up for.”

Shaugnah Stikeman

On her third day in the Yukon, Stikeman knew the territory was home.

“It’s a classic Yukon story,” says Stikeman, who grew up in Ottawa.

“It’s like getting hit by lightning: you know when you know that the Yukon is where you want to be.”

Stikeman and her husband, both lawyers, came up from Vancouver with their two young children (they now have three) when jobs opened up. The family moved into the Mountainview riding a little over four years ago.

“My love for this community and also concern for this community was a big reason why I decided to step up,” she says about her decision to seek a seat in the legislature.

Stikeman wanted to be an agent of change long before entering politics.

She’s worked to promote education for girls in sub-Saharan Africa, to protect the environment with Ecojustice, and as a lawyer, she has been legal counsel for Yukon First Nations, fighting to protect aboriginal and treaty rights.

Right now, she is working with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada to negotiate the administration of justice agreements with Yukon First Nations.

“For the last five years, relationships with First Nations in Yukon have been mired by unending lawsuits with current government,” she says.

“What I’m hearing again and again on the doorstep is a real desire to move forward meaningfully with First Nations, move forward in partnership.”

Three main issues have emerged in her many conversations in Mountainview doorways, says Stikeman, and improving relationships with Yukon First Nations is one.

She says Yukoners want final agreements honoured, and “to really start the hard and difficult work of reconciliation.

“My husband is Ojibway, my kids also share his indigenous roots, and that’s something that really goes to my heart,” she says.

The second issue is a need for stable, well-paying jobs in the territory, and the third is a concern about fracking.

Yukoners recognize the need for immediate action to protect the environment, says Stikeman, and the vast majority want a ban on fracking.

“If we can come together, we really can set the Yukon on a better path,” she says.

“Now is the time; we cannot wait another five years.”

Jeanie Dendys

“I’ve literally had moments where I’ve cried with people in the riding,” Dendys says about her experiences door-knocking in Mountainview.

The first-time candidate for the Liberal party says she’s had many heartfelt discussions in her riding this campaign.

One thing she’s heard: people who obtain an education in the Yukon have a hard time finding employment with the territorial government, and it’s frustrating.

Another is residents are concerned about the government’s relationships with First Nations governments, municipal governments and the federal government.

They also care about protecting the environment, she says.

Dendys was born and raised in Whitehorse. Though she doesn’t live in Mountainview – she lives by Long Lake – Dendys has worked in the riding for the last eight years at the KDFN, where she was director of justice.

And she was director of justice with the Liard First Nation for six years before that.

All told, Dendys has worked in the field of justice for 26 years.

She’s built a career around working with people who find themselves in conflict, and finding creative solutions and resolutions to issues affecting people, families and communities. 

Dendys, who is of Tahltan First Nation and Norwegian heritage, has a particular interest in First Nations approaches to justice.

Right now, she sees in First Nations communities mistrust of the Yukon government.

“At this point, I don’t think there’s any other way forward other than a major change in government to repair that,” she says.

With one son grown and another about to leave town for university, Dendys says she decided to make a run for office because she was ready for a new challenge.

“I feel that with my experience and insight into areas around health, justice, First Nations relationships, that I’d have something to offer,” she says.

Dendys was impressed by Liberal Leader Sandy Silver and the team he’s brought together.

She was further encouraged by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals, in whom she saw “a level of kindness and respect … that I think we need in the Yukon.”

For Dendys, being a politician isn’t about wielding power, it’s about serving people and the community.

“It’s actually, in my opinion, the most humble position you can have,” she says.

“It’s very meaningful to be a spokesperson on behalf of even one person, let alone a whole riding of people.”