Donald W. Branigan (1933 – June 27, 1999) was 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 ...

politician and medical doctor, best known as a former mayor of

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

. As a medical doctor, he was also noted for his frequent legal conflicts with medical licensing bodies opposed to his use of

holistic Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book ''Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED Onl ...

medical practices such as

acupuncture Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientifi ...

Background

Born in Loverna,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, Branigan trained as a medical doctor at the

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

. Practicing as a rural

family doctor Family medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primary ...

, he was mayor of the town of

Manning Manning (a.k.a. Mannion, Manning) is a family name. Origin and meaning Manning is from an old Norse word — manningi — meaning a brave or valiant man; and one of the first forms of the name was Mannin; another cartography was Mannyg ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, a

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

candidate for

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

in the 1968 federal election, and a candidate for the leadership of the

Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral de l'Alberta) is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election ...

in its 1969 leadership race, before moving to Yukon.

Move to Whitehorse

He later moved to Whitehorse, where he resumed his medical practice. In this period, he began to introduce

therapies into his practice, resulting in frequent conflict with the Yukon Medical Council and other authorities. The

Whitehorse General Hospital Whitehorse General Hospital is a hospital in Whitehorse, Yukon. It is the biggest hospital in the Yukon, providing 24/7 In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at an ...

revoked his hospital privileges in 1979; although they denied that the revocation had anything to do with his holistic practices, they did not publicize an alternate reason. In 1985, the council revoked his license to practice medicine, although it was reinstated a month later. In 1988, the medical council charged him with 103 counts of fraud relating to his medical billing practices, although 42 of the charges were withdrawn in the trial phase and he was acquitted of the other 61 charges in 1989.

Politics

He ran three times for election to the

Yukon Territorial Council The Yukon Territorial Council was a political body in the Canadian territory of Yukon, prior to the creation of the Yukon Legislative Assembly. Although not a full legislature, the council acted as an advisory body to the Commissioner of Yukon, and ...

, losing in the 1970 election to

Norman Chamberlist Norman (Norm) Chamberlist (1918–2001) was a Canadian politician, who served on Whitehorse City Council and the Yukon Territorial Council. First elected in the 1961 election, he was forced to resign the seat within a few months after a firm i ...

and in the 1974 election to

Willard Phelps Willard Leroy Phelps (born October 23, 1941) is a former Yukon politician, who briefly served as the second premier of Yukon in 1985. Background Born in 1941, he was the grandson of Willard "Deacon" Phelps and the son of John Phelps, both form ...

. He filed a petition against Phelps' election on conflict of interest grounds, which resulted in Phelps' election being voided in 1975. He then ran in the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to succeed Phelps, but lost to

Walt Lengerke Walter Frank Wolfgang von Lengerke (September 4, 1935 – July 7, 2002) was a Canadian politician, who represented Whitehorse Riverdale on the Yukon Territorial Council from 1975 to 1978. Prior to his election to the territorial council, Lenge ...

. He served as mayor of Whitehorse from 1979 to 1982, and from 1984 to 1991. As mayor, he was noted for some quirky ideas, such as suggesting that Whitehorse handle its

sewage treatment Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding envir ...

needs by building a large

ultrasonic Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hear it. This limit varies fr ...

blaster, and having a

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

built over the council chambers at Whitehorse City Hall as a spiritual conduit, but was also highly regarded for his practical focus on

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and o ...

in the Yukon — in particular, he frequently called attention to the fact that the territory's wealth of

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

offered it many opportunities to become more economically self-sufficient by expanding into manufacturing industries. He ran twice in the electoral district of

Whitehorse North Centre Whitehorse North Centre was a territorial electoral district in the Canadian territory of Yukon, which was represented on the Yukon Territorial Council from 1974 to 1978 and in the Legislative Assembly of Yukon The Yukon Legislative Assembly (fre ...

for the

Legislative Assembly of Yukon The Yukon Legislative Assembly (french: Assemblée législative du Yukon) is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only territorial legislature which is organiz ...

, as an independent candidate in the 1982 territorial election and as a

Yukon Liberal Party The Yukon Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral du Yukon) is a political party in the territory of Yukon, Canada. The party is not organizationally linked to the federal Liberal Party of Canada in any official manner. Sandy Silver, MLA for Klond ...

candidate in the 1989 territorial election. Federally, he ran as a Liberal candidate for

in the 1972 election, the 1987 by-election resulting from the retirement of

Erik Nielsen Erik Hersholt Nielsen (February 24, 1924 – September 4, 2008) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the longtime Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Yukon, and was Leader of the Opposition and the third deputy pr ...

and the 1993 election, and as an independent candidate in the 1997 election. He did not win any of the elections to the higher offices. Upon his retirement as a medical doctor, he moved to

Carcross Carcross, originally known as Caribou Crossing, ( tli, Nadashaa Héeni) is an unincorporated community in Yukon, Canada, on Bennett Lake and Nares Lake. It is home to the Carcross/Tagish First Nation. It is south-southeast by the Alaska Highway ...

where he died on June 27, 1999, after a collapsing from a heart attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branigan, Don 1933 births 1999 deaths Mayors of Whitehorse Mayors of places in Alberta Canadian general practitioners Candidates in the 1968 Canadian federal election Candidates in the 1972 Canadian federal election Candidates in the 1993 Canadian federal election Independent candidates in the 1997 Canadian federal election Alberta Liberal Party politicians Yukon Liberal Party politicians Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons People from Saskatchewan