Madeleine Redfern

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Madeleine Redfern

| caption = Redfern at the 2023 Halifax International Security Forum

| image = Madeleine Redfern - 2023 Halifax International Security Forum (53470280748) (cropped).jpg

| birth_date = 1967

| birth_place = Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories, Canada

| residence =

| office = Mayor of Iqaluit, Nunavut

| term_start1 = 17 December 2010

| term_end1 = 20 October 2012

| predecessor1 = Elisapee Sheutiapik

| successor1 = John Graham

| term_start = 2015

| term_end = 5 November 2019

| predecessor = Mary Wilman

| successor = Kenny Bell

| party =

| religion =

| occupation = politician

}}

Madeleine Redfern (born 1967) is a Canadian Inuk politician, who was elected mayor of Iqaluit, Nunavut in a by-election on 13 December 2010. She was the city's mayor until 2019.

She was born in Iqaluit (then called Frobisher Bay, Northwest Territories).{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/madeleine-redfern-elected-iqaluit-mayor-1.934322 |title=Madeleine Redfern elected Iqaluit mayor |date=14 December 2010 |publisher=CBC News North |access-date=30 April 2020}} Redfern graduated from the Akitsiraq Law School before becoming the first Inuk to be offered a clerkship at the Supreme Court of Canada. She was selected by outgoing Justice Louise Arbour to clerk under her replacement, Justice Louise Charron.{{fact|date=February 2024}}

Redfern is a businessperson, consultant and social advocate in Iqaluit, and was most recently the executive director of the Qikiqtani Truth Commission, looking into the legacy of historical effects of federal government policies on Eastern Arctic Inuit during the period from the 1950s through the 1980s. She ran as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut in the 2008 territorial election in Iqaluit Centre, but lost to incumbent MLA Hunter Tootoo.{{fact|date=February 2024}}

She is an outspoken critic of Nunavut's government. "We live in a chilly banana republic," she said of the territorial government, a short time before becoming mayor.{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/nunavut/the-trials-of-nunavut-lament-for-an-arctic-nation/article547265/ |title=The trials of Nunavut: Lament for an Arctic nation |date=1 April 2011 |publisher=The Globe and Mail |url-access=subscription}}

On 24 July 2012, Redfern announced at a meeting of the Iqaluit City Council that she would not run for re-election in the next election.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/iqaluit-mayor-won-t-run-for-re-election-1.1268027|title=Iqaluit mayor won't run for re-election|publisher=CBC.ca|access-date=24 July 2012}} She was succeeded in that fall's municipal election by John Graham, but Graham resigned two years into his term and was succeeded by Mary Wilman. In the 2015 election, Redfern ran for mayor again, defeating Wilman.[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/iqaluit-municipal-election-2015-1.3276552 "Meet Iqaluit's new mayor and council"]. CBC North, 20 October 2015.