(Redirected from Thomas Berger (Canadian politician))'Thomas Rodney Berger',
OC ,
OBC (born
March 23,
1933) is a
Canadian politician of
Swedish descent. Berger was the leader of the
British Columbia New Democratic Party for most of 1969, prior to
David Barrett.
Born in
Victoria, British Columbia, he was elected to the
House of Commons in the
1962 election, representing the riding of
Vancouver—Burrard for the
New Democratic Party. However, in the
1963 election, he was defeated by
Liberal opponent
Ron Basford.
He was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the
1966 BC election, and served as
interim leader of the provincial New Democrats between the resignation of
Robert Strachan and the election of
Dave Barrett.
Appointed to the
Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1971, he served on the bench until 1983. Berger has worked extremely hard to ensure that industrial development on
Aboriginal people's land resulted in benefits to those
indigenous people. He may be best known for his work as commissioner of the
Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry which released its findings in 1977.
Berger was appointed chair of the
Vancouver Election Commission in 2003, and led several public meetings on electoral reform in the early months of 2004. The Commission recommended changing
Vancouver's at-large system of representation with individual wards; however, this recommendation was defeated in a referendum held on
October 16,
2004.
Berger completed "The Nunavut Project" in 2006. This is a report of recommendations to implement Article 23 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (Inuit Employment within Government). This report was the result of being appointed conciliator in 2005 to resolve the impasse of the Government of Canada, Government of Nunavut and
Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated to update and amend the Nunavut Implementation Contract.
In 1989, he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada. He is a member of the
Order of British Columbia. As of 2006 he sits on the advisory council of the Order of Canada, which researches the merits of future members of the Order and advises the Governor General of Canada on new appointments. He is an honorary member of the
Royal Military College of Canada, student #S153.
External links
★
The Nunavut Project