Ethel Blondin-Andrew

Blondin-Andrew was born 25 March 1951 in Tulita, Northwest Territories.[3] She is a Dene woman.[4] In 1959, she was sent to Grollier Hall in Inuvik, a residential school. She left the school to live in a tent town with other runaway students. When she was twelve, she went to the hospital for back surgery and discovered that she was ill with tuberculosis.[5] After she recovered, she moved to Délı̨nę with her parents, where a local priest wrote her a recommendation letter for Grandin College, a leadership school in Fort Smith, which accepted her application.[6][7]

She received a B.Ed from the University of Alberta in 1974,[8] specialising in linguistics and literacy. In 1984, she became National Manager of the Indigenous Development Participation Programme which was run by the Canadian Public Service. She was appointed executive director two years later.[2]

In 1986, she became Assistant Deputy Minister of Culture for the Northwest Territories. In this role, she became involved in the Assembly of First Nations Aboriginal Language Foundation and the North American Language Institute. She was approached to run for the Territorial Council of the Northwest Territories but instead she ran to be Member of Parliament for the Western Arctic in the 1988 federal election.[2] She won and while an MP, she became the Liberal Party's Assistant Critic for employment equity and Aboriginal affairs.[4] She also served as chair of the Northern and Western Caucus and the Caucus Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, and as a member of the Special Joint Committee on a Renewed Canada, the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs, the Standing Committee on Northern Development, and the Standing Committee on Electoral Reform.[3] She gave her first speech in the House of Commons in the Dene language.[9]

Following the 1993 federal election, the Liberal Party became the majority party and when Jean Chrétien became Prime Minister, Blondin-Andrew was appointed Secretary of State for Training and Youth on 4 November 1993.[2][4] She helped create both Youth Service Canada and the Youth Employment Strategy. On 10 August 1998, she was elected chair for the Main Committee of the World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth in Lisbon.[3] On 11 June 1997, she became Secretary of State (Children and Youth).[4]

When Paul Martin succeed Jean Chrétien as Prime Minister, he appointed Blondin-Andrew as Minister of State (Children and Youth) on December 12, 2003. She served in this role until 20 July 2004, when she became Minister of State (Northern Development).[4] She was re-elected in the 2004 federal election by a razor-thin margin of 53 votes, and was voted out of office in the 2006 federal election, after 17 years of service.[4][10]

In 2001, her work for Aboriginal communities was formally recognized by Brock University, who awarded her an honorary doctorate.[11] She was also awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Governor General of Canada in 2012.[12] She also received the 2019 Maclean's Lifetime Achievement Award given to former MPs.[5]

Blondin-Andrew was the Chair of Sahtu Secretarial Incorporated from 2009 until September 2018.[13] She currently works with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative.[14]

Blondin-Andrew currently lives in Norman Wells.[5] She is married to Leon Andrew and has four children and four grandchildren.[9]

• Notable Aboriginal people of Canada

Live your dreams: by following our vision, aboriginals are changing perceptions and inspiring others. Aboriginal Voices. 6:15 July/Aug. 1999

• How'd They Vote?: Ethel Blondin-Andrew's voting history and quotes