Two women, one of them Indigenous, have been appointed as senators for the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
The federal government made the announcement on Dec. 12.
Pat Duncan, who has a 10-year track record in the Yukon’s legislative assembly, including as the Yukon’s first female premier, has been named senator for the Yukon.
Prior to her time in politics, Duncan served as the executive director of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce. She has also worked as a public servant and manager of claimant services for the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board, according to a press release.
Margaret Dawn Anderson, an Inuvialuk, was appointed senator for the Northwest Territories. Anderson has been a public servant in the Northwest Territories for more than 20 years, with much of her work dealing with Indigenous people.
Anderson has worked within the machinery of the territory’s Department of Justice, including as director of community justice and policing.
“Ms. Anderson’s dedication to her community and to improving the lives of others is best displayed through her Planning Action Responsibly Toward Non-violent Empowered Relationships (PARTNER) project, a northern-based program for low to medium risk domestic violence offenders, and her work as an active member of the Working Group for Domestic Violence Treatment Options Court,” the press release says.
For the first time in eight years, the senate now has 105 members, a “full complement.”
There were two other appointments made in Ontario and Nova Scotia.
Contact Julien Gignac at julien.gignac@yukon-news.com