The 1967 Northwest Territories general election took place on July 4, 1967. Tragedy would ensue after this election as member-elect Bill Berg died in a plane crash while flying into Yellowknife on October 1, only a few days before the new council was to open. This would be the first time since 1905 where more elected members would sit than appointed members. This is also the first election in the history of the territories that electoral districts covered the entire territories. The redistribution of districts was a result of the Carruthers Commission. It would also be the last general election that had members appointed to the Northwest Territories council.

Election summary

Members elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts

Appointed members

The final phase of the general election was the appointments of four council seats after the writs from the general election had returned. A fifth appointed seat also existed automatically going to the incumbent Deputy Commissioner who was reserved a seat on council. Only one incumbent was appointed from the previous council that was retired Air Marshal Hugh Campbell. Abraham Okpik the first Inuit member of the council was dropped due to the election of Simonie Michael. The federal government felt that Okpik who had been appointed to represent Inuit in the eastern arctic was better served by Michael, the first elected Inuit. He was replaced on council by Chief John Tetlichi from Fort McPherson who was the first status Indian ever appointed to council. The other two appointments went to James Gordon Gibson and Lloyd Barber. Gibson was living in

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 ...

at the time having moved from the Yukon where he grew up. He had served in the logging industry on the west coast at the time of this appointment. The final appointee was Lloyd Barber a Dean of Commerce at the

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. He had served on the Royal Commission on Government Administration in 1965. The appointments were announced on November 9, 1967 by Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development

Arthur Laing Arthur Laing, (9 September 1904 – 13 February 1975), a Canadian politician, was actively involved with the BC Liberals, but his primary achievements were federally as a Liberal member of parliament. He served in the cabinets of prime m ...

. He also announced that this would likely be the last appointments to the council as the government was considering plans to reform the council into a fully elected body. The federal government kept the appointments for another term until 1975.

References

External links

{{Northwest Territories elections 1967 elections in Canada Elections in the Northwest Territories July 1967 events in Canada 1967 in the Northwest Territories