Stephen Kakfwi

Last updated
Stephen Kakfwi
9th Premier of the Northwest Territories
In office
January 17, 2000 December 10, 2003
Commissioner Daniel Joseph Marion
Glenna Hansen
Preceded by Jim Antoine
Succeeded by Joe Handley
MLA for Sahtu
In office
October 5, 1987 November 24, 2003
Preceded by John T'Seleie
Succeeded by Norman Yakeleya
Personal details
Born1950 (age 7071)
Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories
NationalityCanadian
Political partyIndependent
Spouse(s) Marie Wilson

Stephen Kakfwi (born 1950 in Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories [1] ) is a Canadian politician, who was the ninth premier of the Northwest Territories. His sixteen-year tenure in the cabinet of the Northwest Territories is the longest in the Territories' history. [2]

Contents

Early life

Stephen Kakfwi was born on 1950 in a traditional Dene bush camp at Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories to full-blooded Slavey parents. His parents were non-status Slavey due to his grandfather waiving his treaty rights in order to own property and run a fur-trading business. At an early age, Kakfwi was sent away to residential schools in Inuvik, Yellowknife and Fort Smith. During the 1970s, Kakfwi attended the University of Alberta to complete a teacher's degree, but early in that decade he returned to his Fort Good Hope community during a time in which many Aboriginal Canadians were beginning to organize politically to demand recognition of their land and self-government rights. [3] [4]

Political career

In the 1970s the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline was proposed. Kakfwi identified the danger this proposal posed to his community's homeland, and fought tirelessly against the proposal, organizing groups of Dene and Métis. Eventually, the Government of Canada established the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, commissioned by Justice Thomas R. Berger. The 1977-8 recommendations against building a pipeline through the Northwest Territories for the time being were considered by Kakfwi as a "political badge of honour". [4]

In 1980 Kakfwi ran against Georges Erasmus for the Dene leadership, but lost. In 1983, Kakfwi again ran for the position of President of the Dene Nation and won, as Erasmus, his 1980 opponent, had been elected grand chief of the Assembly of First Nations. As President of the Dene Nation, Kakfwi established both the Northwest Territories Dene Cultural Institute and Indigenous Survival International (the latter was focused on hunting rights, particularly in the Arctic). He also aided in land rights efforts and helped to develop a framework for land claim negotiations. In 1984 and 1987, Pope John Paul II had scheduled visits to the Northwest Territories, an effort made possible by the work of Kakfwi. Although the 1984 visit was subsequently cancelled due to poor weather, Kakfwi continued to campaign for a visit in 1987. [3] [4]

In 1987, Kakfwi was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, representing the constituency of Sahtu, of 254,000 square kilometres in area. During his sixteen-year tenure in the Legislative Assembly, ending in 2003, Kakfwi played key roles in initiatives ranging from economic development by encouraging the creation of diamond cutting and polishing industries in close proximity to local diamond mines, through to his promotion of Aboriginal rights, especially during his term as Premier of the Northwest Territories from 2000 to 2003. His sixteen-year tenure in the cabinet of the Northwest Territories is the longest in the Territories' history. [5] Kakfwi continues to play an active role in the development of the Northwest Territories through his advisory position to WWF Canada.

In 2014, he founded Canadians for a New Partnership, a coalition with a goal to build a new partnership between First Peoples and all Canadians. [6]

In July 2017, he was appointed to the Supreme Court Advisory Board by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. [7] The board's mandate is to provide an independent, merit-based recommendation to fill the vacancy created by the upcoming retirement of Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. [8] [9]

Awards

In 1997, Kakfwi was awarded the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for public service for his leadership role in Northern Canada. [10] [11]

In October 2013, he was awarded the Governor General's Northern Medal by David Johnston. [12]

Personal life

Kakfwi is married to Marie Wilson and has three children and four grandchildren. [1] [3] [2]

Related Research Articles

Northwest Territories Territory of Canada

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately 1,144,000 km2 (442,000 sq mi) and a 2016 census population of 41,790, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated population as of 2020 is 45,161. Yellowknife is the capital, most populous community, and only city in the territory; its population was 19,569 as of the 2016 census. It became the territorial capital in 1967, following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission.

Wrigley, Northwest Territories Place in Northwest Territories, Canada

Wrigley is a "Designated Authority" in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The Slavey Dene community is located on the east bank of the Mackenzie River, just below its confluence with the Wrigley River and about 466 mi (750 km) northwest of Yellowknife.

Tulita Hamlet in Northwest Territories, Canada

Tulita, which in Slavey means "where the rivers or waters meet," is a hamlet in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was formerly known as Fort Norman, until 1 January 1996. It is located at the junction of the Great Bear River and the Mackenzie River; the Bear originates at Great Bear Lake adjacent to Deline.

Slavey First Nations aboriginal people

The Slavey are a First Nations indigenous peoples of the Dene group, indigenous to the Great Slave Lake region, in Canada's Northwest Territories, and extending into northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta.

Beverley McLachlin Canadian jurist

Beverley Marian McLachlin is a Canadian jurist and author who served as the 17th Chief Justice of Canada from 2000 to 2017. She is the longest-serving chief justice in Canadian history and the first woman to hold the position.

Slavey is a group of Athabaskan languages and a dialect continuum spoken amongst the Dene peoples of Canada in the Northwest Territories – or central Denendeh – where it also has official status. The languages are primarily written using a modified Latin script, with some using Canadian Aboriginal syllabics. In their own languages, these languages are referred to as: Sahtúgot’įné Yatı̨́, K’ashógot’įne Goxedǝ́ and Shíhgot’įne Yatı̨́ in the North, and Dené Dháh, Dene Yatıé or Dene Zhatıé in the South.

Chipewyan language

Chipewyan, ethnonym Dëne Sųłıné YatıéIPA: [tènɛ̀sũ̀ɬìnɛ́jàtʰìɛ́], is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. Dënësųłinë́ has nearly 12,000 speakers in Canada, mostly in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. It has official status only in the Northwest Territories, alongside 8 other aboriginal languages: Cree, Tlicho, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey and South Slavey.

Sahtu

The Sahtú or North Slavey are a Dene First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the vicinity of Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. The Sahtú peoples live in Colville Lake, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells and Tulita which form the Sahtu Region of the NWT. The Dene of the region are represented by the Sahtu Dene Council who, in 1993, signed the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. Sahtú groups include the Hare Dene, Bear Lake Dene, and Mountain Dene. They call themselves also Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨ne.

Same-sex marriage in the Northwest Territories Marriage

Same-sex marriage in the Northwest Territories has been legal since July 20, 2005. The Canadian territory began granting marriage licences to same-sex couples upon the granting of royal assent to the federal Civil Marriage Act. The Northwest Territories had been one of only four provinces and territories, with Alberta, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island, where same-sex marriage had not already been legalized by court challenges prior to the passage of the federal law.

Georges Henry Erasmus, OC is a Canadian politician. He was the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations from 1985 to 1991.

Nick Sibbeston Canadian politician

Nick G. Sibbeston is a Canadian retired politician, serving from 1985 to 1987 as the fourth premier of the Northwest Territories.

The Paulette Case refers to the filing of a legal caveat concerning the different interpretations of Treaty 8 and Treaty 11 between the Government of Canada and the Denesoline in the Northwest Territories (NWT).

Norman Wells Town in Northwest Territories, Canada

Norman Wells is the regional centre for the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. The town is situated on the north side of the Mackenzie River and provides a view down the valley of the Franklin and Richardson mountains.

Sambaa Ke Place in Northwest Territories, Canada

Sambaa K'e is a "Designated Authority" in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is located near the Alberta border, east of Fort Liard, on the shore of the lake also known as Sambaa K'e. It has no all-weather road, but can be reached by winter road early in the year or by air year-round.

Kakisa Place in Northwest Territories, Canada

Kakisa is a "Designated Authority" in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is located on Kakisa Lake, and is southeast of Fort Providence. Originally located at Tathlina Lake, the community moved, in 1962, to the present location in order to be closer to the Mackenzie Highway and is linked by a 13 km (8.1 mi) all-weather road.

Sahtu Region Administrative region in Northwest Territories, Canada

The Sahtu Region is an administrative region in Canada's Northwest Territories. Coterminous with the settlement region described in the 1993 Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement, 41,437 km2 (15,999 sq mi) of the Sahtu is collectively owned by its Indigenous Sahtu (Dene) and Métis inhabitants. Although the region's population is predominantly First Nations, a significant non-Indigenous presence exists in Norman Wells, the regional office, established in 1920 to serve the only producing oilfield in the Canadian Territories. Considered to be of vital strategic importance during World War II in the event of a Japanese invasion of Alaska, the region's petroleum resources were exploited by the United States Army with the Canol pipeline, but the project never became necessary and ultimately operated for less than one year.

Hay River Reserve Kʼatlodeechee First Nation in Northwest Territories, Canada

Hay River Reserve is one of only two Indian reserves in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in the South Slave Region, it is a Slavey community with a population of 309, of which the majority are First Nations and some Métis, at the 2016 census, a 5.8% increase from the 2011 census. The main languages on the reserve are South Slavey, and English. In 2017 the Government of the Northwest Territories reported that the population was 329, resulting in an average annual growth rate of 0.4% between 2007 and 2017.

Judicial appointmentsin Canada are made by the federal government or provincial government. Superior and federal court judges are appointed by federal government, while inferior courts are appointed by the provincial government.

Thomas Cromwell (jurist)

Thomas Albert Cromwell is a Canadian jurist and former Puisne Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada. After eleven years on the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, Cromwell was nominated to succeed Michel Bastarache and occupy the seat traditionally reserved for Atlantic provinces on the Supreme Court of Canada by Prime Minister Stephen Harper,. and assumed office on December 22, 2008. Cromwell retired in September 2016, and was succeeded by Malcolm Rowe.

South Slave Divisional Education Council School in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada

The South Slave Divisional Education Council (SSDEC) is the organizational entity responsible for the administration of public schools within the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Its responsibility includes all schools within the five communities of the South Slave. Specifically, it is responsible for schools in the communities of Fort Resolution, Fort Smith, K'atl'odeche First Nation, Hay River, and Łutselk'e. Given the vast distances between communities, and the relatively small populations, the eight schools of the South Slave range in enrolment from 60 to 250 students. Although considered part of the South Slave Region by other departments of the Government of the Northwest Territories, the communities of Fort Providence and Kakisa are served by the Deh Cho Divisional Education Council and not the SSDEC.

References

  1. 1 2 "Stephen Kakfwi". The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Biographical notes - Stephen Kakfwi, Member". Government of Canada. July 17, 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 Stephen Kakfwi - Biography - Kakfwi and Associates (accessed 2010-01-08).
  4. 1 2 3 In Depth: Stephen Kakfwi - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (accessed 2015-08-04).
  5. Stephen Kakfwi: The Public Government Politician - Kakfwi and Associates (accessed 2010-01-08).
  6. "Canadians for a New Partnership - Vision and Mission". cfnp.ca. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  7. "Prime Minister announces Advisory Board to select next Supreme Court Justice" (Press release). Government of Canada. July 17, 2017.
  8. MacCharles, Tonda (June 12, 2017). "Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin to retire from Supreme Court of Canada". Toronto Star .
  9. "Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada - Terms of Reference of the Advisory Board". Government of Canada . Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  10. "Stephen Kakfwi - Dene leader guides Western Arctic to new constitutional existence". ammsa.com. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  11. "Indspire | Stephen Kakfwi". Indspire . Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  12. "Stephen Kakfwi receives Governor General's Northern Medal". CBC News. October 4, 2013.
Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
Preceded by
John T'Seleie
MLA Sahtu
1987–2003
Succeeded by
Norman Yakeleya
Preceded by
Jim Antoine
Premier of Northwest Territories
2000–2003
Succeeded by
Joe Handley