Rylund Johnson is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, who was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a uni ...

in the 2019 election. He represents the electoral district of

Yellowknife North Yellowknife North is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is one of seven districts that represent Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and ...

Political positions

Johnson is a member of the federal

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

, describing himself as a part of the "millenial green wave addressing political apathy." He proposed that the

Northwest Territories Power Corporation The Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) is an electric utility in the Northwest Territories of Canada. NTPC was formed in 1988 to acquire and operate the former assets of the Northern Canada Power Commission in the Northwest Territories ...

bring in revenue through

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...

, which would therefore reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Johnson is an advocate for

drug decriminalization Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing or legalizing the use or sale of Prohibition of drugs, prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include: drug legalization, drug re-legalization and drug decriminalization ...

following similar actions in the city of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. Johnson also supports a system of

guaranteed basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive an unconditional transfer payment, that is, without a means test or need to work. It would be received independently of a ...

and advocated for the implementation of such a system with fellow

Frame Lake Frame Lake is located in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. It is an endorheic freshwater body located between the city's downtown section and a larger residential area. The Frame Lake Trail circles it, and city hall and the territoria ...

MLA

Kevin O'Reilly Kevin O'Reilly (born 1987) is hurler for the Dublin senior team and Lucan Sarsfields. O'Reilly was named on the 2007 3rd Level All-Star XV for DIT due to his performance in the Fitzgibbon Cup. O'Reilly was named on the Dublin Blue Stars tea ...

Personal life

Johnson worked as a lawyer and as a co-founder of Makerspace YK, a nonprofit. He was formerly an admin for the BDSM workshop group Northern Bound. Johnson was the target of parody in a YouTube video titled "The Greatest Speech Never Heard in the NWT Legislative Assembly," which was originally shared on the

Dehcho First Nations The Dehcho First Nations is a tribal council representing the Dene (South Slavey) and Métis people of the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is made up of ten First Nations bands and two Métis Locals. Membership The Deh ...

Facebook page and subsequently acknowledged by him. He lives on a houseboat with his partner Kristel. The houseboat is named the Scandimaniac, which also is the name of his podcast. Johnson moved to the Northwest Territories in 2015.

References

Living people Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories People from Summerland, British Columbia People from Yellowknife 21st-century Canadian politicians Year of birth missing (living people) {{NorthwestTerritories-politician-stub