- Lena Pedersen
Lena (Elizabeth Magdalena) Pedersen or Lena Pederson (born 1940,
Greenland ) is a politician and social worker fromNunavut ,Canada . In 1959, Pedersen moved from Greenland to theNorthwest Territories and lived in Coppermine (Kugluktuk), Pangnirtung and Rae (Behchoko) before moving to Cape Dorset where she participated in the art work sales of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative.cite web |url=http://www.collectionscanada.ca/women/002026-839-e.html |title=Lena (Elizabeth Magdalena) Pedersen First woman elected to the Northwest Territories Council |publisher=Library and Archives Canada |date=April 12, 2005 |accessdate=2007-10-29]Lena was the first woman elected to the
Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories in the Northwest Territories 1970 election. The elections ordinance was amended to allow women the vote and run for office prior to the 1951 Northwest Territories election. Lena was not the first woman to run however asVivian Roberts was a candidate in the 1951 election.In 1999 she was appointed by premier
Paul Okalik to the Maligarnit Qimirrujiit, Nunavut's Law Review Commission. Prior to her appointment she served as a board member for the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada and the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation, and as a drug and alcohol program coordinator for Kugluktuk.In the 2003 Northwest Territories general election she ran in
Yellowknife Centre finishing last with 10 votes in a field of seven candidates.The Lena Pederson (Kitikmeot) Boarding Home in
Yellowknife , that is used by patients from Nunavut's Kitikmeot Region while on medical travel, is named in her honour. [ [http://www.hlthss.gov.nt.ca/Features/Programs_and_Services/help_directory_database/entry.asp?ID=552 Lena Pederson Boarding Home] ]Quote
Regarding the geographic move of the Northwest Territories government and the effect on Eskimo Co-operatives, Pedersen is quoted as saying:::"The NWT Government moved North in 1967 to get closer to the people," but "it has achieved "only" to get closer "in miles" to some communities. It is still as far as or further removed from the people as it every ["sic"] was."— Lena Pedersen, 1974 [cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sxdo-gvbByIC&pg=PA240&lpg=PA240&dq=%22lena+pedersen%22+yellowknife&source=web&ots=IPBzJJoO0z&sig=QyilXHILt4sW-tS3-eZ5GrHSWnU#PPA241,M1 |title=Talking Chiefs to a Native Corporate Elite The Birth of Class and Nationalism Among Canadian Inuit |author=Marybelle Mitchell |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press -MQUP |date=1996 |page=p.241-242 |format=.pdf |accessdate=2007-11-12]
Partial bibliography
* Pedersen, Lena, and Donna Stephania. " [http://ww4.ps-sp.gc.ca/en/library/publications/caledon/kugluk~1.pdf Crime Prevention in Kugluktuk] ". Ottawa: Caledon Institute of Social Policy, 1999. ISBN 1894159616References
External links
* [http://www.nunatsiaq.com/archives/40924/news/nunavut/40924_09.html A lot of warmth in the Lena Pederson Boarding Home Nunatsiaq News September 24, 2004]
* [http://www.gov.nu.ca/news/1999/nov/nov29.pdf Premier Paul Okalik appoints Maligarnit Qimirrujiit commissioners]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/nwtvotes2003/riding/018/ Yellowknife Centre election results 2003 CBC]
* [http://stillcounting.athabascau.ca/table2-1.php Still counting Woman electoral firsts list in Canada]
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