David Searle

For the American conductor, see David Searle (conductor).

David Harry Searle (born 1936[1]) is a retired politician and lawyer from Northwest Territories, Canada.

Legal career

Born in Edmonton, Searle moved to Yellowknife with his family in 1946. He was educated at the University of Alberta.[1] Searle established his law practice in 1963 partnering with Justice Mark de Weerdt in Yellowknife. He practised law in the territory until 1981. He served as a crown attorney until his election in 1967. Searle moved to Vancouver and practised mining and environmental law with a firm called Davis & Company. He served as President of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories. From 1991 to 2004, he was a professor at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law.

Searle was named to the Order of Canada in 1999.[2]

He retired in August 2006.

Political career

Searle was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories in the 1967 Northwest Territories general election. He served the riding of Mackenzie North.

In his first term in office he was at the press conference to unveil the current Northwest Territories flag on January 31, 1969.

He was re-elected to his second term in office for the new district of Keewatin North after redistribution for the 1970 Northwest Territories general election.

Searle ran for a third term in the 1975 Northwest Territories general election this time in the new district of Yellowknife South after a much large redistribution of the ridings. He was re-elected and on May 1, 1975 became the first elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly since Archibald Beaton Gillis in 1905.

Searle ran in the 1979 Canadian federal election in Western Arctic for the Liberal Party of Canada and ended up coming a close second.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Canadian Who's Who, Volume X. Trans-Canada Press. 1964–1966.
  2. "David Harry Searle, C.M., Q.C.". Order of Canada. Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 2010-01-02.

External links

Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
Preceded by
Peter Baker
MLA Mackenzie North
1967–1970
Succeeded by
District Abolished
Preceded by
New District
MLA Keewatin North
1970–1975
Succeeded by
District Abolished
Preceded by
New District
MLA Yellowknife South
1975–1979
Succeeded by
Lynda Sorenson
Preceded by
John Havelock Parker
(as Deputy Commissioner)
Speaker of the Northwest Territories Assembly
1975–1979
Succeeded by
Robert H. MacQuarrie