Frederick Blake Jr. is a

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

Canadian politician, who was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories 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 with his family. His parents, Grace and Frederick Blake, also live in Tsiigehtchic.

Arctic Red River

Blake was Chief for the Arctic Red River Band.

Political career

Blake ran for public office in the 2011 Northwest Territories general election 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 Glenna F. Hansen (born August 10, 1956) is an Inuvialuit Canadian politician. She served as the commissioner of the Northwest Territories from March 31, 2000, to April 29, 2005. Early life Born in Aklavik, Northwest Territories, Canada, Hansen jo ...

, 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 after the completion of the

Deh Cho Bridge The Deh Cho Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across a span of the Mackenzie River on the Yellowknife Highway (Highway 3) near Fort Providence, Northwest Territories. Construction began in 2008 and was expected to be completed in 2010 but faced ...

, 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