Nick G. Sibbeston (born November 21, 1943) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired politician, serving from 1985 to 1987 as the fourth

premier of the Northwest Territories The premier of the Northwest Territories is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian territory of the Northwest Territories. The premier is the territory's head of government, although the powers of the office are considerably le ...

. Sibbeston was a Senator representing the Northwest Territories from 1999 until 2017, when he resigned on his 74th birthday, a year prior to reaching the mandatory retirement age. He was also a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

in the Northwest Territories representing Mackenzie-Laird from 1970 to 1975 and from 1979 until 1991.

Early life and career

Sibbeston is from

Fort Simpson Fort Simpson (Slavey language: ''Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́'' "place where rivers come together") is a village, the only one in the entire territory, in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is located on an ...

, Northwest Territories. Considered a residential-school survivor, he attended residential schools in Fort Simpson,

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

, Inuvik, and

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 ...

. He went on to attend the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

, where he graduated with

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

degrees.

Career

Territorial politics

In 1970, Sibbeston was elected to a four-year term on the North West Territorial Council, after which he was defeated by William Lafferty in the 1975 Northwest Territories general election. He was re-elected in the 1979 general election and would continue to be a

until 1991. During his second term in the Legislative Assembly, Sibbeston was elected to serve in the Executive Council (

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

). In a 1981 incident, Sibbeston was thrown out of the territorial legislature for throwing a cup of coffee at

Peter Fraser Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand La ...

, the speaker of the legislature, during an intense debate. He would serve six years in Cabinet until he was elected to serve as the fourth Premier of the Northwest Territories from 1985 until 1987.

Civil servant

After 1991, Sibbeston worked briefly for the Government of Northwest Territories, as justice specialist and as a

public administrator Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit estab ...

for Deh Cho Health & Social Services. He also served four years on the Canadian Human Rights Panel/Tribunal, as well as being a cultural and Slavey-language advisor for the television program '' North of 60''.

Federal politics

Sibbeston was appointed to the Senate of Canada on 2 September 1999 on the advice of Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien. In the Senate, one of his goals has been to find a new name for the Northwest Territories to better reflect his jurisdiction's geography and people. He also focused on issues such as the

Mackenzie Valley Pipeline The Mackenzie Valley Pipeline, also called the Mackenzie River Pipeline, was a proposed project to transport natural gas from the Beaufort Sea through Canada's Northwest Territories to tie into gas pipelines in northern Alberta. The project wa ...

, infrastructure in the North, climate change mitigation, and increasing Indigenous engagement in the economy. On 29 January 2014, Liberal Party leader

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

announced that all Liberal Senators, including Sibbeston, were removed from the Liberal caucus, and would continue sitting as Independents. According to Senate Opposition leader James Cowan, the Senators will still refer to themselves as Liberals even if they are no longer members of the parliamentary Liberal caucus. Sibbeston agreed with Trudeau's decision, saying that the Northwest Territories also did not have a party system. That same month, Sibbeston defended his absence from 51 out of 70 votes in the previous parliamentary session, his reason being the nastiness of partisan party politics in Ottawa, which he was not used to in the north. On 5 May 2016, Sibbeston left the Senate Liberal caucus to sit as an Independent Senator. In September 2017, Sibbeston announced that he would resign on November 21 that year, his 74th birthday. Sibbeston said that he would focus on his family, travel, and spirituality as well as translating

Catholic liturgy In the Catholic Church, liturgy is divine worship, the proclamation of the Gospel, and active charity. Catholic liturgies are broadly categorized as the Latin liturgical rites of the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic liturgies of the Eas ...

into the

Dene language Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...

References

External links

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Nick Sibbeston fonds. Northwest Territories Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sibbeston, Nick Premiers of the Northwest Territories Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories 1943 births Living people Liberal Party of Canada senators Canadian senators from the Northwest Territories Canadian lawyers Métis politicians Canadian Roman Catholics Indspire Awards 21st-century Canadian politicians Indigenous Canadian senators Canadian Métis people People from Fort Simpson