The

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

is the presiding officer of 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 ...

. The speakership has changed many times: from 1876 to 1888 the presiding officer of the assembly was the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Territories (with North-West

hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes (figure d ...

ated name used until 1906);c.62, RSC 1906
/ref> however, Members of the Legislative Assembly would also elect one of their own to act as chairman. Elected members held the Speakership from 1888 until 1905. The Deputy Commissioner of the Territories became Speaker and held that role from 1921 until 1975, when it was returned to the elected members.

Speakers and presiding officers

Lieutenant-governors serving as presiding officer of the Council of the North-West Territories (1876–1888)

David Laird David Laird, (March 12, 1833 – January 12, 1914) was a Canadian politician. He was born in New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island, into a Presbyterian family noted for its civic activism. His father Alexander had been a long time Reformer and L ...

October 7, 1876 – December 3, 1881 *

Edgar Dewdney Edgar Dewdney, (November 5, 1835 – August 8, 1916) was a Canadian surveyor, road builder, Indian commissioner and politician born in Devonshire, England. He emigrated to British Columbia in 1859 in order to act as surveyor for the Dewdney T ...

December 3, 1881 – July 1, 1888

Speakers of the North-West Legislative Assembly (1888–1905)

Herbert Charles Wilson Herbert Charles Wilson (December 7, 1859 – December 17, 1909) was a Canadian politician and physician. He served as mayor of the Town of Edmonton and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories. Wilson was born in 1859 i ...

1888–1891 *

James Hamilton Ross James Hamilton Ross (May 12, 1856 – December 14, 1932) was a Canadian politician, the third commissioner of Yukon, and an ardent defender of territorial rights. He is also considered to be the first resident of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Ear ...

1891–1894 * John Betts 1894–1898 *

William Eakin William Eakin (June 14, 1828 – March 14, 1918) was a farmer and political figure in the Northwest Territories, Canada. He was a member and speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. He was born at Markham Townshi ...

1898–1902 * Archibald Gillis 1902–1905

Deputy Commissioners serving as presiding officer of the
2nd Council of the Northwest Territories The 2nd Council of the Northwest Territories, known formally as the Council of the Northwest Territories, was the governing body of Canada's Northwest Territories from 1905 to 1951. In 1905 when Alberta and Saskatchewan were carved out the Northwe ...
(1921–1975)

* Roy A. Gibson June 16, 1921 – October 3, 1950 * Frank J. G. Cunningham June 26, 1951 – April 10, 1957 * Wilfred G. Brown April 10, 1957 – July 23, 1965 *

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 ...

August 1, 1965 – March 1, 1967 *

John Havelock Parker John Havelock Parker, OC (February 2, 1929 – March 9, 2020) was the commissioner of the Northwest Territories from April 15, 1979 to July 31, 1989. He had previously been Deputy Commissioner of Northwest Territories from 1967 to 1979. Biograp ...

March 2, 1967 – April 30, 1975 (continued as Deputy Commissioner until April 14, 1979)

Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories (since 1975)

David Searle David Harry Searle (1936 – March 1, 2021) was a Canadian politician and lawyer from the Northwest Territories. Legal career Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Searle moved to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories with his family in 1946. He was educated a ...

May 1, 1975 – November 13, 1979 * Robert H. MacQuarrie November 13, 1979 – October 22, 1980 *

Donald Morton Stewart Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

October 22, 1980 – November 12, 1987 *

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 ...

November 12, 1987 – October 18, 1989 *

Richard Nerysoo Richard Nerysoo (born 1953) is a territorial level politician from the Northwest Territories, Canada. He was a member of the Northwest Territories Legislature from 1979 to 1995 and served as the third premier of the Northwest Territories and S ...

October 19, 1989 – November 13, 1991 *

Michael Ballantyne Michael Alan Ballantyne (February 27, 1945 – June 19, 2008) was a Canadian politician and humanitarian. He was a city councillor for Yellowknife City Council from 1978 and in 1979 became mayor until his resignation in 1983. He served as a ...

November 13, 1991 – November 10, 1993 *

Jeannie Marie-Jewell Jeannie Marie-Jewell (born October 7, 1961) is a territorial level politician from northern Canada. She served as the first female Speaker in the history of the Northwest Territories legislature. Political career Marie-Jewell was first elected ...

November 13, 1993 – December 15, 1994 * Brian Lewis (Acting) December 15, 1994 – February 15, 1995 *

Samuel Gargan Samuel Gargan (born ) is a former long serving politician and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. Gargan was first elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in the 1983 Northwest Territories general electi ...

February 15, 1995 – January 18, 2000 *

Tony Whitford Anthony Wilfred James Whitford (born June 11, 1941) is a retired Canadian politician, who served as the commissioner of the Northwest Territories from 2005 to 2010. Whitford was born in 1941

January 19, 2000 – December 11, 2003 *

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 ...

December 11, 2003 – June 1, 2004 *

Paul Delorey Paul Alfred Delorey (May 3, 1949 – January 1, 2021) was a Canadian curler, territorial level politician, and speaker of the Northwest Territories (NWT) Legislature. Curling Delorey was an avid curler. He represented the NWT/Yukon at the Cana ...

June 1, 2004 – October 3, 2011 *

Jackie Jacobson Jackie Jacobson (born Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories) is a Canadians, Canadian politician, who represents the electoral district of Nunakput in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. Political career Jabobson began his politi ...

October 3, 2011 – November 23, 2015 *

Jackson Lafferty Jackson Lafferty (born October 9, 1969) is a Canadian territorial level politician. Early life Lafferty attended High School in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. He received his post secondary education at Red Deer College and is currently enro ...

December 16, 2015 – October 24, 2019 *

Frederick Blake Jr Frederick Blake Jr. is a First Nations 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 ...

October 24, 2019 - present

References

External links

History of the Northwest Territories legislative assembly 1876–1905
{{Northwest Territories politics * Politics 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. ...