Judy Gingell

Early Life and Education

Elder Judy Gingell was born to Johnny and Annie Smith on her grandparents’ trapline near Rancheria, around 320 km east and south of Whitehorse. Gingell is the eldest child of a large family. She is a member of Kwanlin Dün First Nation (see also First Nations in Yukon).

As a young child, Gingell and her family lived off the land and moved throughout Yukon with the seasons. The family settled in Whitehorse when she reached school age. Gingell is a residential school survivor. She began attending Whitehorse Baptist Residential School in 1951 and recalls being made to feel ashamed of her First Nations heritage and identity. Disliking the strict rules and regulations, Gingell left school at age 16. She later attended Yukon Vocational School in Whitehorse and took a course in bookkeeping.

Coming out of the residential school system and to understand what happened there that never should have happened, gives you the strength and the knowledge that you need to move on and make a difference so that it never happens to our people again, or even to any human being.

– Elder Judy Gingell

Career

In 1969, Elder Judy Gingell was working as a bookkeeper when she was approached to become band manager for Kwanlin Dün First Nation. That same year, Gingell was a founding director of the Yukon Native Brotherhood. She served as secretary-treasurer and was the only woman on the executive team at the time.

Gingell has taken an active role in several Indigenous organizations throughout her career. In the 1970s and 1980s, she was an executive on the Yukon Indian Women’s Association and a founding director of Northern Native Broadcasting. Beginning in 1980, she served as president of the Yukon Indian Development Corporation. She left the position in 1989 when she was elected as chair of the Council for Yukon Indians (now Council of Yukon First Nations).

From 1995 to 2000, Gingell served as Commissioner of Yukon. Following her time in this position, Gingell has continued to be a leader in her community. She was a board member, chair and vice-president for Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). Some of the many boards that Gingell sat on include Yukon College, the Yukon Economic Council, Yukon Women’s Transition Home, Han Fisheries Ltd. and Grey Mountain Housing Society. Gingell has taken on executive positions with the Yukon Residential Schools and Missing Children Project, Kluane First Nation, Whitehorse Aboriginal Women’s Circle and Kwanlin Development Corporation.

Land Claims and Self-Governance

Among the causes Elder Judy Gingell has championed are land claims and self-government agreements for Yukon First Nations (see also Self-Governing First Nations in Yukon). As secretary-treasurer for the Yukon Native Brotherhood, Gingell was sent as a representative for a 1973 delegation of Yukon First Nations leaders to Ottawa. The delegation’s goal was to begin discussions about granting Yukon First Nations self-governing authority through a modern-day treaty. The delegation presented Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Indian Affairs Minister Jean Chrétien with a document, Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow. The document outlined the delegation’s grievances and their recommended solutions. Reflecting on the 45th anniversary of the delegation, Gingell recalled their motivation: “We did not want the future to go through what we had lived. It was not a very nice way that we lived and we wanted to make it better.”

The delegation and the document were a catalyst for the land claims agreement movement in the Yukon. For the following two decades, the federal government and Yukon First Nations leaders negotiated agreements to give money, land and some resource rights to the territory’s First Nations communities.

Gingell was chair of the Council for Yukon Indians (now Council for Yukon First Nations) during the finalization of several important land claim agreements. The Umbrella Final Agreement laid out a framework for the First Nations in Yukon to establish their own final agreements and arrange settlements on land, compensation and self-government. During her tenure with the Council for Yukon Indians, Gingell was the chief negotiator for final land claim and self-government agreements for four Yukon First Nations. As chair, Gingell was a signatory on the Umbrella and four final agreements in 1993, which became law in 1995. Her leadership ushered in an era of Yukon First Nations regaining control of their own governance: 11 of the 14 First Nations have now signed self-governing agreements.

While the agreements brought certainty for our people, it also provided us the ability to secure economic prosperity… Most importantly for us, the agreements represent a partnership and an understanding among governments: Canada, Yukon and First Nations, about what our relationship is going forward.

– Elder Judy Gingell

Commissioner of Yukon

On 12 June 1995, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed Elder Judy Gingell as  Commissioner of Yukon. She was the first Indigenous person to hold this position. The function of the Commissioner of Yukon has changed since the role was first appointed in 1897. While originally responsible for overseeing the administration of the territorial government, since the mid-20th century the role has become more ceremonial in nature, similar to that of provincial lieutenant-governors.

As Commissioner, Gingell’s responsibilities included signing land transfers and other legal documents, opening the Yukon Legislature and giving assent to bills. The role was the first time in her career that Gingell was not working in a strictly Indigenous setting, although she used her position to highlight First Nations peoples and their cultures in Yukon. One of the keystones of her term was establishing the Commissioner's Potlatch, a three-day celebration in Whitehorse. She donned ceremonial clothing at events and her coat of arms as Commissioner featured a motto in Southern Tutchone, which translates as “Weaving for a better tomorrow.”

Honours and Awards

• Commissioner’s Award for Public Service, Commissioner of Yukon (2001)
• Public Service Award, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation (now Indspire), (2005)
• Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)
• Member, Order of Canada (2009)
• Member, Order of Yukon (2019)