Lena (Elizabeth Magdalena) Pedersen or Lena Pederson (born 1940,

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

) is a politician and social worker from

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

, Canada. In 1959, she moved from Greenland to the

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. ...

and lived in Coppermine (Kugluktuk),

Pangnirtung Pangnirtung (or Pang, also Pangniqtuuq, in syllabics: ᐸᖕᓂᖅᑑᖅ ) is an Inuit hamlet, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, located on Baffin Island. Pangnirtung is situated on a coastal plain at the coast of ...

and Rae (Behchoko) before moving to

Cape Dorset Kinngait (Inuktitut meaning "high mountain" or "where the hills are"; Syllabics: ᑭᙵᐃᑦ), formerly known as Cape Dorset until 27 February 2020, is an Inuit hamlet located on Dorset Island near Foxe Peninsula at the southern tip of Baffin ...

where she participated in the artwork sales of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative.

Life and career

In the 1970 general election, Pedersen was the first woman 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 ...

representing the Central Arctic District The elections ordinance was amended to allow women the vote and run for office prior to the

1951 Northwest Territories general election The 1951 Northwest Territories general election was held on September 17, 1951 in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was the territory's first general election since 1902. The election came about after ''The Northwest Territories Act'' was ame ...

. Pedersen was not the first woman to run, however, as Vivian Roberts was a candidate in the 1951 election. In 1999 she was appointed by premier

Paul Okalik Paul Okalik ( iu, ᐹᓪ ᐅᑲᓕᖅ, ; born May 26, 1964) is a Canadian politician. He is the first Inuk to have been called to the Nunavut Bar. He was also the first premier of Nunavut. On November 4, 2010, he was elected Speaker of the Legi ...

to the Maligarnit Qimirrujiit, Nunavut's Law Review Commission. Prior to her appointment, she served as a board member for the

Inuit Tapirisat of Canada Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, ( Inuktitut syllabics: , meaning "Inuit are united in Canada") previously known as the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (Eskimo Brotherhood of Canada), is a nonprofit organization in Canada that represents over 65,000 Inuit acr ...

and the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, and as a drug and alcohol program coordinator for

Kugluktuk Kugluktuk (, ; Inuktitut syllabics: ; ), formerly known as Coppermine until 1 January 1996, is a hamlet located at the mouth of the Coppermine River in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada, on Coronation Gulf, southwest of Victoria Island. I ...

. In

2003 Northwest Territories general election The 2003 Northwest Territories general election was held on November 24, 2003, to elect the 19 members of the Legislative Assembly. The election was called on October 27. Premier Stephen Kakfwi had previously chosen not to run. The territory op ...

she ran in

Yellowknife Centre Yellowknife Centre is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is one of seven districts that represent Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, an ...

but was defeated. The former Lena Pederson (Kitikmeot) Boarding Home in

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

, that was used by patients from Nunavut's

Kitikmeot Region Kitikmeot Region (; Inuktitut: ''Qitirmiut'' ) is an administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boothia Peninsula, together ...

while on medical travel, was named in her honour. She was, at one time, married to

Red Pedersen Asger Rye "Red" Pedersen (sometimes Asgar Rye Pederson, born 1935, Denmark) is a former territorial-level Canadian politician. In 1953, he got a job in the Canadian Arctic with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) at Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (then t ...

and their grandson, Calvin Pedersen was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Nunavut The Legislative Assembly of Nunavut is the legislative assembly for the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The seat of the Assembly is the Legislative Building of Nunavut in Iqaluit. Prior to the creation of Nunavut as a Canadian territory on Apr ...

in July 2020.

Quote

Regarding the geographic move of the Northwest Territories government and the effect on Eskimo Co-operatives, Pedersen is quoted as saying: ::"The NWT Government moved North in 1967 to get closer to the people," but "it has achieved ''only'' to get closer ''in miles'' to some communities. It is still as far as or further removed from the people as it every was."— Lena Pedersen, 1974

Partial bibliography

* Pedersen, Lena, and Donna Stephania.
Crime Prevention in Kugluktuk
'. Ottawa:

Caledon Institute of Social Policy The Caledon Institute of Social Policy, also Caledon Institute, is a private Canadian think tank focused on social policy Social policy is a plan or action of government or institutional agencies which aim to improve or reform society. Some p ...

, 1999.

References

External links

A lot of warmth in the Lena Pederson Boarding Home Nunatsiaq News September 24, 2004Premier Paul Okalik appoints Maligarnit Qimirrujiit commissionersYellowknife Centre election results 2003 CBCStill counting Woman electoral firsts list in Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedersen, Lena Living people 1940 births Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories People from Behchoko People from Kinngait People from Kugluktuk People from Pangnirtung People from Yellowknife Greenlandic emigrants to Canada Canadian Inuit women Greenlandic Inuit people Women in Northwest Territories politics Inuit from the Northwest Territories Inuit from Nunavut