Commissioner of Yukon

Commissioner of Yukon Commissaire du Yukon
Coat of Arms
Flag
Incumbent Doug Phillips
Inaugural holder	James Morrow Walsh
Formation	August 17, 1897

This is a list of Yukon Commissioners from 1897 to the present. The Commissioner is appointed by the Government of Canada, but a Commissioner, in contrast to the Governor-General of Canada or the Lieutenants-Governor of the Canadian Provinces, is not a Viceroy and therefore Commissioners are not direct representatives of the monarch in the territory.

List of commissioners

Commissioners (1897-1918)

#	Image	Commissioner	Term start	Term end
1		James Morrow Walsh	August 17, 1897	July 5, 1898
2		William Ogilvie	July 5, 1898	March 11, 1901
3		James Hamilton Ross	March 11, 1901	February 8, 1902
–		Henry William Newlands (interim)	February 8, 1902	August 15, 1902
–		Zachary Taylor Wood (interim)	August 15, 1902	March 4, 1903
4		Frederick Tennyson Congdon	March 4, 1903	October 29, 1904
5		William Wallace Burns McInnes	May 27, 1905	December 31, 1906
–		John T. Lithgow (interim)	January 1, 1907	June 17, 1907
6		Alexander Henderson	June 17, 1907	June 1, 1911
–		Arthur Wilson (interim)	June 1, 1911	February 1, 1912
7		George Black	February 1, 1912	October 13, 1916
–		George Norris Williams (interim)	October 13, 1916	April 1, 1918

Gold Commissioners

The offices of Commissioner and Administrator were abolished in 1918. Office replaced by the Gold Commissioner who was responsible to the federal Minister of the Interior.

#	Gold Commissioner	Term start	Term end
1	François Xavier Gosselin	1907	1912
2	George P. MacKenzie	1912	April 1, 1925
3	Percy Reid	April 1, 1925	November 14, 1927
–	George A. Jeckell (interim)	November 14, 1927	April 1, 1928
4	George I. MacLean	April 1, 1928	June 30, 1932

Controllers

The positions of Gold Commissioner and Comptroller were combined in 1932 with the Comptroller being the title for the chief executive. The title was changed to "Controller" in 1936.

#	Controller	Term start	Term end
1	George A. Jeckell	June 30, 1932	July 1947
2	John Edward Gibben	September 18, 1947	1948

Commissioners (1948-present)

In 1948, the title of chief executive once again became Commissioner. By the 1960s, the Commissioner had formed an executive committee that included some members of the elected Territorial Council, in essence a cabinet. (By the mid 1970s, the Territorial Council was referring to itself as a Legislative Assembly, and its members MLAs rather than Councillors.) Beginning in 1978, Yukon had party government with a Government Leader.

In October 1979, federal minister Jake Epp (Indian Affairs and Northern Development) issued a letter, often known as the Epp letter, instructing the Commissioner to assume a role similar to that of a provincial Lieutenant-Governor, and devolving leadership of the day-to-day government to the majority leader of the legislative assembly (territorial council), to whom the Epp letter granted the authority to use the title Premier. At that time, the government leader added a fifth elected member to the committee, which became an executive council.

Subsequent federal ministers did not revoke this authority and instruction, which was eventually codified in amendments to the Yukon Act, along with redesignation of the legislative assembly from territorial council. The process, particularly since 1979, has devolved powers from the federal government to the territorial government, bringing authority which is normally reserved by the Articles of Confederation for provinces to the territory.

See also: List of premiers of Yukon

#	Commissioner	Term start	Term end
1	John Edward Gibben	1948	August 15, 1950
2	Andrew Harold Gibson	August 15, 1950	October 15, 1951
3	Frederick Fraser	October 15, 1951	November 5, 1952
4	Wilfred George Brown	November 5, 1952	June 8, 1955
5	Frederick Howard Collins	June 8, 1955	May 1, 1962
6	Gordon Robertson Cameron	May 1, 1962	November 7, 1966
7	James Smith	November 7, 1966	July 1, 1976
8	Arthur MacDonald Pearson	July 1, 1976	November 1, 1978
9	Frank Fingland	November 1, 1978	January 20, 1979
10	Ione Christensen	January 20, 1979	October 9, 1979
11	Douglas Bell	October 9, 1979	March 27, 1986
12	Ken McKinnon	March 27, 1986	June 12, 1995
13	Judy Gingell	June 12, 1995	October 1, 2000
14	Jack Cable	October 1, 2000	December 1, 2005
15	Geraldine Van Bibber	December 1, 2005	December 1, 2010
16	Doug Phillips	December 1, 2010	Incumbent

Living former Commissioners

As of November 2010, seven former commissioners are alive, the oldest being Douglas Bell (1979–1986, born 1926).

Name	Term	Date of birth
Frank Fingland	1978 – 1979	1929 (age 94–95)
Ione Christensen	1979	(1933-10-10) October 10, 1933
Douglas Bell	1979 – 1986	(1926-06-15) June 15, 1926
John Kenneth McKinnon	1986 – 1995	(1936-04-20) April 20, 1936
Judy Gingell	1995 – 2000	1948 (age 75–76)
Jack Cable	2000 – 2005	(1934-08-17) August 17, 1934
Geraldine Van Bibber	2005 – 2010	(1951-07-03) July 3, 1951

External links

• Official Handbook for Commissioners of the Territories (Canada)