Yukon who is who

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Hilda Pauline Watson, nee Bredo (1922 – 1997)
	
Hilda Bredo was born in Kuest, Saskatchewan to Ludwig and Dorothea Bredo. The family moved to Lamont, Alberta in 1926. Hilda went to Normal School in Edmonton, then taught school for several years. She married Ron Watson, a Second World War veteran, in 1947 and they moved to the Yukon. They had two children – twins Rod and Rhoda (Istchenenko) in Whitehorse and then moved to Haines Junction where Hilda taught school.((Joyce Hayden, //Yukon's Women of Power: Political Pioneers in a Northern Canadian Colony.// Windwalker Press, 1999: 86-95.))
	
Hilda Watson was elected to the Yukon Territorial Council in 1970 to represent the Carmack-Kluane area. She got involved in politics because she wanted to give Yukon’s rural areas a voice in the territorial council.((Richard Mostyn, “Watson respected as teacher, politician.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 19 July 1996.)) Watson was one of the first two councillors to be appointed to the new Executive Council, and she was responsible for education in the territory.((“Hilda Watson.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Watson))

Watson and fellow Council member Norman Chamberlist built a voting bloc with the non-executive councillors that gave them effective control in the Council. In 1974, Watson survived a vote of no confidence for her actions during a student strike in Pelly Crossing. She was re-elected in 1974, and when the validity of her election was challenged by John Livesey, her predecessor in the newly reorganized district, she resigned and was re-elected in a byelection.((“Hilda Watson.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Watson))  

The Legislative Assembly of Yukon was established in 1977 and Watson was narrowly elected as the leader of the new Progressive Conservative Party over federal member of Parliament Erik Nielsen. The party won the territorial election in 1978 and Watson became the first woman in Canada to lead a political party with successfully elected members. She lost her own seat for the Kluane district to Alice McGuire and so did not become the government leader. She was succeeded by Chris Pearson.((“Hilda Watson.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Watson)) 
	
Hilda Watson changed Yukon politics by fighting to establish a Yukon-wide conservative party and replace the territory’s fractious independents, who fought for their own areas, with political parties and stable platforms. She left the legacies of Medicare and the territory’s first education legislation.((Richard Mostyn, “Watson respected as teacher, politician.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 19 July 1996.))

After Hilda retired, she and her husband sold the family business and they moved to Clearbrook, British Columbia. They returned north each summer to see their family and old friends. Hilda was known and appreciated for her independence, compassion, and love of family.((Joyce Hayden, //Yukon's Women of Power: Political Pioneers in a Northern Canadian Colony.// Windwalker Press, 1999: 86-95.)) in 1996, Yukon Party Community and Transportation Services minister Bill Brewster expressed his admiration for her vision and her ability to stand up and fight, express her opinions, and get her way. Former Conservative leader Dan Lang remembered her as always well prepared, and that if you sat down to a debate with her you had better have all the material to hand.((Richard Mostyn, “Watson respected as teacher, politician.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 19 July 1996.))