Richard Nerysoo

Richard Nerysoo (born 1953)^[1] is a territorial level politician from the Northwest Territories, Canada. He was a member of the Northwest Territories Legislature from 1979 to 1995 and briefly served as the third Premier and Speaker of the territories.

Political career

Nerysoo served a long career as Member of the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories (MLA). He was first elected in the 1979 Northwest Territories general election in the Mackenzie Delta electoral district becoming the youngest MLA in the history of the territories.

Nerysoo was re-elected in the 1983 Northwest Territories general election. He was elected by the Legislative Assembly to serve as the third premier of Northwest Territories. His election as Speaker made him the first Aboriginal in Canada to serve the role. He served as the government leader for a year until 1985. He was re-elected in the 1987 Northwest Territories general election.

History would be made by Nerysoo again when he was elected to be the first Aboriginal Speaker of the Assembly. He would be elected Speaker on October 19, 1989 and serve in that role until November 13, 1991. He was re-elected to a fourth term in the 1991 Northwest Territories general election. Nerysoo was defeated by candidate David Krutko in the 1995 Northwest Territories general election.

In 1996, Mr. Nerysoo was elected as President of the Gwich'in Tribal Council and served until 2000. Mr. Nerysoo was one of the founding Directors of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group. Mr. Nerysoo was the founding member of Gwich'in Council International a body that represents the Gwich'in Nation (NWT, YUKON and Alaska) as Permanent Participants on the Arctic Council.

Mr. Nerysoo was elected Chief of the Inuvik Native Band and President of the Nihtat Gwich'in Council in 2003 and served until 2008. He served on the Board of Directors of the Gwich'in Tribal Council. He was selected as the Chief Negotiator on the Access and Benefits Agreements with Imperial Oil Ltd. who represented the Mackenzie Gas Project.

He currently serves as a President of the Gwich'in Tribal Council.

References

External links

• Native Aboriginal Achievement Awards: article on Richard Nerysoo
• Gwich'in Tribal Council
• Northwest Territories speakers 1975 to present