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 | |
Born | 1950 (age 73–74) Fort Good Hope,Northwest Territories |
Nationality | Canadian |
Political party | Independent |
Spouse | 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]
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]
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]
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]
Kakfwi is married to Marie Wilson and has three children and four grandchildren. [1] [3] [2]
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately 1,127,711.92 km2 (435,412.01 sq mi) and a 2021 census population of 41,070,it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated population as of the second quarter of 2024 is 44,920. Yellowknife is the capital,most populous community,and the only city in the territory;its population was 20,340 as of the 2021 census. It became the territorial capital in 1967,following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission.
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.
The Slavey are a First Nations group of Indigenous peoples in Canada. They speak the Slavey language,a part of the Athabaskan languages. Part of the Dene people,their homelands are in the Great Slave Lake region,in Canada's Northwest Territories,northeastern British Columbia,and northwestern Alberta.
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’įnéYatı̨́,K’ashógot’įne Goxedǝ́ and Shíhgot’įne Yatı̨́ in the North,and DenéDháh,Dene Yatıé or Dene Zhatıé in the South.
Chipewyan or Dënesųłinë́,often simply called Dëne,is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. It 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 eight other aboriginal languages:Cree,Tlicho,Gwich'in,Inuktitut,Inuinnaqtun,Inuvialuktun,North Slavey and South Slavey.
The Dene people are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal,subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" has two uses:
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 Sahtúpeoples 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. Sahtúgroups include the Hare Dene,Bear Lake Dene,and Mountain Dene. They call themselves also Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨ne.
Georges Henry Erasmus,OC is a Canadian politician. He was the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations from 1985 to 1991.
Nick G. Sibbeston is a retired Canadian politician,serving from 1985 to 1987 as the fourth premier of the Northwest Territories.
Delgamuukw v British Columbia,[1997] 3 SCR 1010,also known as Delgamuukw v The Queen,Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa,or simply Delgamuukw,is a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that contains its first comprehensive account of Aboriginal title in Canada. The Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en peoples claimed Aboriginal title and jurisdiction over 58,000 square kilometers in northwest British Columbia. The plaintiffs lost the case at trial,but the Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal in part and ordered a new trial because of deficiencies relating to the pleadings and treatment of evidence. In this decision,the Court went on to describe the "nature and scope" of the protection given to Aboriginal title under section 35 of the Constitution Act,1982,defined how a claimant can prove Aboriginal title,and clarified how the justification test from R v Sparrow applies when Aboriginal title is infringed. The decision is also important for its treatment of oral testimony as evidence of historic occupation.
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 is a town located in the Sahtu Region,Northwest Territories,Canada. The town,which hosts the Sahtu Regional office,is situated on the north side of the Mackenzie River and provides a view down the valley of the Franklin and Richardson mountains.
The history of the Northwest Territories covers the period from thousands of years ago to the present day. Prior to European colonization,the lands that encompass present-day Northwest Territories were inhabited for millennia by several First Nations. European explorers and fur traders began to explore the region since the late-16th century. By the 17th century,the British laid claim to both the North-Western Territory and Rupert's Land;and granted the Hudson's Bay Company a commercial fur trade monopoly over the latter region.
The Dene TháFirst Nation is a First Nations government of the South Slavey in Northern Alberta,Canada. The people call themselves Dene Dháa or 'Ordinary People' in the Dene Dháh language. Its population is centered primarily in three communities:Bushe River,Meander River,and Chateh,but approximately 600 members who live off-reserve. Dene TháFirst Nation is Treaty 8 nation and a member of the North Peace Tribal Council.
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 Project,but the pipeline never became necessary and ultimately operated for less than one year.
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 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.
The Charter Community of Délı̨nę is located in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories,Canada,on the western shore of Great Bear Lake and is 544 km (338 mi) northwest of Yellowknife. Délı̨nęmeans "where the waters flow",a reference to the headwaters of the Great Bear River,Sahtúdé. It is the only settlement on the shores of Great Bear Lake as Fort Confidence was last used in the 1800s and Port Radium closed in 1982.
The South Slave Divisional Education Council (SSDEC) is the public school board for 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 240 students with a total of 1,300. 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 Dehcho Divisional Education Council and not the SSDEC.