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Tony Penikett
3rd Premier of the Yukon
In office May 29, 1985 – November 6, 1992
Prime Minister	Brian Mulroney
Commissioner	Douglas Bell John Kenneth McKinnon
Preceded by	Willard Phelps (Progressive Conservative)
Succeeded by	John Ostashek (Yukon Party)
Leader of the Yukon New Democratic Party
In office 1981–1995
Preceded by	Fred Berger
Succeeded by	Piers McDonald
Personal details
Born	Antony David John Penikett Error: Need valid birth date: year, month, day Sussex, England
Political party	New Democratic Party

Antony David John "Tony" Penikett (born 1945) is a mediator and negotiator and former politician in Yukon, Canada.

Early life and political activity

Born in Sussex, England, on November 14, 1945 and educated at St Albans School (Hertfordshire) in England and in Alberta and Ontario, Penikett began his Yukon working life as an asbestos mine labourer at Clinton Creek, Yukon, where he became active in his union as a shop steward and chair of the grievance committee.

An activist with the New Democratic Party (NDP), Penikett was campaign manager in the 1972 election for Wally Firth, the first indigenous northern MP ever elected to the House of Commons. He was the party's candidate in Yukon in the 1974 election, but was not elected.

Penikett became a member of the New Democratic Party's federal council in 1973 and served as executive assistant to Ed Broadbent in the mid-1970s. He was president of the federal NDP from 1981 to 1985.

Premier of Yukon

He was first elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in 1978, representing the constituency of Whitehorse West as a member of the Yukon New Democratic Party. He was the party's only MLA successfully elected that year.

In 1981, Penikett succeeded Fred Berger as leader of the party. Under his leadership, independent MLA Maurice Byblow crossed the floor to join the party, and Roger Kimmerly won a by-election for the party in October. With the party having surpassed the Yukon Liberal Party in seats, Penikett became Leader of the Opposition.

The party won six seats in the 1982 election.

In the 1985 territorial election, the party won eight seats, forming a minority government with Penikett serving as government leader.

Penikett fought the federal government for a better deal for the territory in Canadian confederation and for control over its natural resources. He and Dennis Patterson, premier of the Northwest Territories, also fought for a greater role at First Minister's conferences. Penikett's government negotiated and signed an umbrella agreement for First Nations land claims, negotiated the first four agreements with individual First Nations, and developed an economic development strategy for the Yukon in consultation with citizens.

Penikett's government opposed the Meech Lake Accord, believing it would make it impossible for the Yukon to ever become a province. According to Penikett, the accord violated the rights of Yukon residents by granting to each existing province an absolute veto over the creation of a new province, as well as by giving provinces, but not territories, consultation rights on the appointment of new Senators and new Supreme Court justices. According to Penikett, the changes would condemn northerners to "forever be second-class citizens". Penikett's government fought the accord in court, although its case was dismissed by the Yukon Court of Appeal.

The NDP formed a majority government after the 1989 election. Around this time, Penikett took on the title of Premier, the first government leader in the territory to be given that title, in a bid to increase the territory's clout in relations with the federal and provincial governments.

After seven years in power, the NDP was defeated in the 1992 election by the conservative Yukon Party.

In 1994 Penikett resigned as leader of the Yukon NDP and was succeeded by Piers McDonald.

Later career

There was an attempt later in 1994 to draft Penikett as leader of the federal New Democratic Party, but he declined to run. In 2003, after he had moved to British Columbia, he was rumoured to be a candidate to lead the British Columbia New Democratic Party, but did not run.

In 1998 he was appointed by the government of British Columbia to lead contract negotiations with the province's public sector unions.

Between 1998 and 2000, Penikett and his colleague John Calvert negotiated 32 public sector accords (on early retirement, pay equity and joint trusteeship of pension plans) with public sector employer organizations and unions representing 250,000 provincial public employers. This is to date the largest number of social contracts ever negotiated in Canada.

From 2001 to 2005, Penikett was a senior fellow on native treaty issues and a visiting professor for the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. He has also worked at the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, and for West Coast Environmental Law.

Penikett has been appointed as the University of Washington's Canada Fulbright Chair in Arctic Studies for 2013-14. For the duration of this award, he will be located at The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Box 353650, Seattle, WA 98195-3650, USA, and conducting a “Comparative Study of Canadian and U.S. Approaches to Issues of Arctic Governance in the 21st Century.”

Personal life

Penikett is the father of actor Tahmoh Penikett, best known for his work as Karl Agathon in Battlestar Galactica and Paul Ballard in Dollhouse. His twin daughters Sarah and Stephanie Penikett have also appeared on television, in Psych and The L-Word.

Penikett is the author of Reconciliation: First Nations Treaty Making in British Columbia (Douglas & McIntyre, 2006); two television films, The Mad Trapper (BBC TV, London, 1972) and La Patrouille Perdu (ORTF, Paris, 1974); and several plays.

References

1. ^ "No all-candidates meetings in Yukon: Opponent wary of Tory hatchet man". The Globe and Mail, June 22, 1974.
2. ^ "NDP's by-election win makes it Opposition". The Globe and Mail, October 15, 1981.
3. "The voters are few, but they're serious". The Globe and Mail, June 19, 1982.
4. "The NDP rise to power in the Yukon". The National (CBC Television), May 14, 1985.
5. "North of 60, hopes linked to command of resources". The Globe and Mail, February 1, 1988.
6. "Status low at provincial talks: Yukon, NWT leaders remain outsiders". The Globe and Mail, August 20, 1988.
7. "Deal signed to settle Yukon Indian claim". The Globe and Mail, May 30, 1989.
8. Tony Penikett, "Meech Lake Accord freezes out Canada's North". The Globe and Mail, October 28, 1987.
9. "Yukon leader pledges fight over accord". The Globe and Mail, July 17, 1987.
10. "Territories demand a share in benefits of Meech accord". The Globe and Mail, November 28, 1987.
11. "Rights of Yukoners not violated by Meech Lake deal, court rules". The Globe and Mail, December 24, 1987.
12. "Territories' leaders battle to be heard". The Globe and Mail, November 10, 1989.
13. "New Yukon leader rejects Penikett's 'Premier' moniker". The Globe and Mail, October 21, 1992.
14. Jeffrey Simpson, "The NDP prepares to size up the pretenders to McLaughlin's throne". The Globe and Mail, January 20, 1995.
15. "Veteran negotiator enters native disputes". The Globe and Mail, June 18, 1998.

v t e Premiers of Yukon
Pearson Phelps Penikett Ostashek McDonald Duncan Fentie Pasloski Silver Pillai

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• 1945 births
• Living people
• Premiers of Yukon
• People from Sussex
• Yukon New Democratic Party leaders
• Writers from Yukon
• People from Whitehorse, Yukon
• People educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire
• Presidents of the New Democratic Party of Canada