Daniel Christmas

Personal Life and Education

Daniel Christmas is the son of Augustus and Viola Christmas and is the oldest of six children. He was raised in Membertou First Nation on Unama’ki (Cape Breton Island). Christmas attended school in Sydney, Nova Scotia and graduated from Sydney Academy High School in 1975. He received a diploma from the University College of Cape Breton (now Cape Breton University) the year after. Due to the unexpected death of his father, a disabled war veteran, Christmas dropped out of university in his second year to help support his family.

In 1982, Christmas married Wolastoqiyik artist Arlene “Dozay” Nicholas from Neqotkuk First Nation, New Brunswick (see also First Nations in New Brunswick). They have three children together, two of whom were adopted. In 1988, Daniel and Dozay Christmas opened Dozay’s Native Art Gallery in Membertou.

Employment

Daniel Christmas began his first job in 1976 when he was 20: band manager for the Membertou First Nation, where he served for five years. He then worked for the Union of Nova Scotia Indians for 14 years, employed successively as a coordinator, executive assistant and director. Between 1997 and 2016, Christmas was the senior adviser to the Membertou Band Council, where he assisted with day-to-day operations of the First Nation. He was instrumental in bringing his community back from the brink of bankruptcy, increasing its workforce and turning it into a wealthy First Nation. He was also an elected councillor between 1996 and 2014.

Community Service

Service to the community has been a hallmark of Daniel Christmas’s life. Among several other diverse organizations, he has represented his people as a member of the Mi’kmaw Treaty Working Group and on the board of Membertou Development Corporation. Provincially, Christmas has served on the boards of a college and a university and the Premier’s Council on the Economy. At the national level, he has been a member of the RCMP Commissioner’s National Aboriginal Advisory Committee and the Advisory Council of the Law Commission of Canada.

Christmas led the Mi’kmaq response to the 1990 report of the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr., Prosecution, which centred on Marshall’s wrongful murder conviction (see Marshall Inquiry). He was also at the forefront of the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada’s Marshall decision that re-affirmed Mi’kmaw treaty rights to fish for a moderate livelihood (see Marshall Case).

Senator

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Daniel Christmas as one of nine new senators in October 2016. These senators were the second group chosen under a new arm’s-length procedure that let Canadians apply for the position. Christmas was sworn in as an independent senator for Nova Scotia that December, becoming the first Mi'kmaw member of the upper house.

Uniquely, Christmas opened an office in Membertou First Nation to be available to his people. Given he was not elected, some members of Parliament protested that Christmas was usurping them as it was their responsibility to address constituents’ issues. When he pointed out there was no one else to listen to Mi’kmaw concerns, the complaints stopped.

During his six years as a senator, Christmas served on the Indigenous Peoples and Fisheries and Oceans committees. While he was chair of the Indigenous Peoples Committee, he contributed to the passing of Bill C-15 in June 2021, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. Christmas also worked on the Fisheries and Oceans report on moderate livelihood fisheries and the Indigenous Peoples report on Bill S-3, which studied the gender equity issue within the Indian Act.

Christmas retired in 2023, eight years before his mandatory retirement age of 75. This was partially due to the death of his wife in November 2019 and the need to look after their daughter. He continues to operate Dozay’s Native Art Gallery.

Honours and Awards

• Paul F. Gould Memorial Trophy, Membertou First Nation (1982)
• 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal (1993)
• Tom Miller Human Rights Award, Cape Breton Regional Municipality (1997)
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Dalhousie University (2005)
• National Excellence in Aboriginal Leadership Award, Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of Canada (2008)
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)
• Impact Award, Cape Breton Partnership (2014)
• Grand Chief Membertou Lifetime Achievement Award (2016)
• Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary Foundation (2017)
• Honorary Doctor of Civil Law, Saint Mary’s University (2019)
• Honorary Doctor of Law, Queen’s University (2022)
• Honorary Doctor of Letters, Cape Breton University (2022)
• Honorary Governor, Nova Scotia Community College (2022)
• Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Nova Scotia) (2022)