Frederick Blake Jr. is a First Nations Canadian politician, who was first elected to the

Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a uni ...

in the 2011 election. He represents the electoral district of Mackenzie Delta.

Biography

Blake lives in

Tsiigehtchic Tsiigehtchic ( ; "mouth of the iron river"), officially the ''Charter Community of Tsiigehtchic'', is a Gwich'in community located at the confluence of the Mackenzie and the Arctic Red Rivers, in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

with his family. His parents, Grace and Frederick Blake, also live in Tsiigehtchic.

Arctic Red River

Blake was Chief for the

Arctic Red River The Arctic Red River is a tributary to the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories, Canada. In 1993 the river was designated as part of the Canadian Heritage Rivers System. It was also the name of a community on the Mackenzie where the r ...

Band.

Political career

Blake ran for public office in the

2011 Northwest Territories general election The 2011 Northwest Territories general election was held on October 3, 2011. Nineteen members were returned to the 17th Legislative Assembly from single member districts conducted under first-past-the-post voting system. The territory operates on ...

as a candidate in the Mackenzie Delta electoral district. The election was hotly contested due to the opening created by incumbent speaker

David Krutko David Krutko (born November 11, 1957) is a retired territorial level politician in Northern Canada and a former speaker of the Northwest Territories legislature. Krutko was first elected to the Northwest Territories legislature in the 1995 gene ...

stepping down. Blake defeated four other candidates, including former

Northwest Territories Commissioner 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 ...

Glenna Hansen, to win his first term in office. In February 2013, Blake asked the Minister of Transportation

Dave Ramsay Dave Ramsay (born March 18, 1970 in Saint John, New Brunswick) is a Yellowknife businessman and politician. Political career Ramsay first ran for a seat in the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly in the 1999 Northwest Territories general ...

, whether the ferry M.V. ''Merv Hardie'', recently retired from the crossing at

Fort Providence Fort Providence ( den, Zhahti Koe, Zhahti Kue, lit=mission house) is a hamlet in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Located west of Great Slave Lake, it has all-weather road connections by way of the Yellowknife Highway ...

after the completion of the Deh Cho Bridge, could replace the MV ''Louis Cardinal'', a smaller and less capable ferry operating at

. He has also served as Gwich'in Chief in the community of Tsiigehtchic.

References

External links

1977 births Living people 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century First Nations people First Nations politicians Gwich'in people Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories {{NorthwestTerritories-politician-stub