Sheila Bassi-Kellett
Director
Representative for Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory & Nunavut
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Born and raised in Toronto, Sheila Bassi-Kellett moved to Yellowknife in 1986 after completing her undergraduate degree. In her 35+ year career in the Northwest Territories, she has worked extensively in governance development and individual/organizational capacity building.
Sheila started working for the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) for Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), first as a researcher and then with the Community Transfer Initiative which was the GNWT’s flagship initiative to transfer more power and authority to local governments. In 1994, she had the opportunity to move to Tulita, Northwest Territories, to become the Senior Administrative Officer (SAO) for the Hamlet of Tulita. Subsequently, she returned to work for the GNWT as an Indigenous Self Government Negotiator for five years before becoming the Director of Corporate Affairs for MACA in 2002 and then the Assistant Deputy Minister in 2005. Sheila was appointed Deputy Minister of Human Resources in 2011 and held that position until 2014 when she left the GNWT.
After running her own management consultancy for three years, Sheila returned to public service when she joined the City of Yellowknife in March 2017 as City Manager and recently retired. In 2020, she was honoured to be recognized by Municipal World as a Woman of Influence in Local Government in Canada.
Sheila was a member of CAMA’s Political Acumen Toolkit Committee (2018-2019) and a member of the Awards of Excellence Jury in 2020.
