The 5th Northwest Territories Legislative Council was the 12th assembly of the territorial government. This council's members were elected and appointed in the 1964 general election and served until it was dissolved for the 1967 general election.

Leadership

The incumbent

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of the territory at the beginning of the council was

Bent Gestur Sivertz Bent Gestur Sivertz (August 11, 1905 – October 4, 2000) was a Canadian sailor, teacher, soldier, and civil servant. He was commissioner of the Northwest Territories from July 12, 1963 to January 16, 1967. He was the last non-resident Commissi ...

. He left office on January 16, 1967, and was replaced by Deputy Commissioner

Stuart Milton Hodgson Stuart Milton Hodgson, sometimes known as Stu, OC (April 1, 1924 – December 18, 2015) was the commissioner of the Northwest Territories (NWT) from March 2, 1967 until April 6, 1979. The first Commissioner to actually reside in the Northwest Ter ...

on March 2, 1967. The Deputy Commissioner at the beginning of the council was Wilfred G. Brown who left office on July 23, 1965. He was replaced by Hodgson in that role who then went on to replace Sivertz as Commissioner. Hodgson was replaced by John Havelock Parker who served as Deputy Commissioner from March 2, 1967, until dissolution.

Legislation

First session

The first session of the 5th Council resulted in Royal Assent for 15 bills. Among the legislation was a $75 per month Old Age Pension allowance with additional living subsidies for disabled persons. There was a bill that allowed commercial sports to be played on Sunday, a bill appropriating $210,000 from the federal government to fund a first mortgage housing program and an increase in big game hunting quota's for the

Mackenzie District Mackenzie District is a local government district on New Zealand's South Island, administered by the Mackenzie District Council. It is part of the larger Canterbury Region. Geography Principal settlements The Mackenzie District only has three t ...

. The council also passed two motions without debate, the first introduced by appointed member Frank Vallee that called for an amendment to the

Northwest Territories Act The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

to increase council representation to 13 men with expansion of electoral districts to the east arctic. A second motion introduced by

Robert Poritt The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

called on the federal government to drop its plans to divide the Northwest Territories into two territories.

Third session

The third session was held in

Resolute Bay Resolute Bay is an Arctic waterway in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in Parry Channel on the southern side of Cornwallis Island. The hamlet of Resolute is located on the northern shore of the bay with Resolute Bay Airpo ...

commencing on October 31, 1966. The session included the new eastern arctic members of the council that had been elected in the September by-elections. This session was the first time since 1905 that elected members held a majority.

Appointments

By-elections

A set of three historic by-elections took place on September 19, 1966. The

Carrothers Commission The Carrothers Commission, formally The Advisory Commission on the Development of Government in the Northwest Territories, was a commission set up by the government of Canada to study the future of government of the Northwest Territories. It was l ...

recommended that electoral districts be established in the eastern arctic which had previously been unrepresented in council and disenfranchised from territorial voting. The result was the creation of three electoral districts; Central Arctic, Eastern Arctic and Keewatin. A by-election was held on September 19, 1966. Only Eastern Arctic was contested which resulted in the first elected Inuit to serve on council who won in a three-way race. It would also mark the first time since elections were established in 1881 that the entire Northwest Territories had representation on council.

References

External links

Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly homepage
{{Northwest Territories Assemblies Northwest Territories Legislative Assemblies