 stephen kakfwi (born 1950 in fort good hope, northwest territories) is a canadian politician and the ninth premier of the northwest territories. == early life == stephen kakfwi was born on november 7, 1950 in a traditional dene bush camp at fort good hope, northwest territories to full-blooded slavey parents. his parents were non-status slavey due to his grandfather waiving his treaty rights in order to own property and run a fur-trading business. at an early age, kakfwi was sent away to residential schools in inuvik, yellowknife and fort smith. during the 1970s, kakfwi attended the university of alberta to complete a teacher's degree, but early in that decade he returned to his fort good hope community during a time in which many aboriginal canadians were beginning to organize politically to demand recognition of their land and self-government rights.stephen kakfwi - biography - kakfwi and associates (accessed 2010-01-08).in depth: stephen kakfwi - canadian broadcasting corporation (accessed 2010-01-08). == political career == in the 1970s the mackenzie valley pipeline was proposed. kakfwi identified the danger this proposal posed to his community's homeland, and fought tirelessly against the proposal, organizing groups of dene and metis. eventually, the government of canada established the mackenzie valley pipeline inquiry, commissioned by justice thomas r. berger. the 1977-8 recommendations against building a pipeline through the northwest territories for the time being were considered by kakfwi as a "political badge of honour". in 1980 kakfwi ran against georges erasmus for the dene leadership, but lost. in 1983, kakfwi again ran for the position of president of the dene nation and won, as erasmus, his 1980 opponent, had been elected grand chief of the assembly of first nations. as president of the dene nation, kakfwi established both the northwest territories dene cultural institute and indigenous survival international (the latter was focused on hunting rights, particularly in the arctic). he also aided in
1950_births Dene_people First_Nations_politicians Living_people Members_of_the_Legislative_Assembly_of_the_Northwest_Territories Premiers_of_the_Northwest_Territories