George Van Roggen (1921 – 1992)
	
George Van Roggen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He came to Whitehorse in 1949, after graduating in law from the University of British Columbia.((“George Van Roggen.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Van_Roggen)) In 1949, Van Roggen was a director on the Whitehorse Board of Trade. Alan MacGregor was president, the vice-president was Keith Johnson, and the secretary was R.J. Rowland. The other directors were Rolf Hougen, Gordon Lee, Jim Norrington, D. Cavaye, E. Lortie, W.D MacBride, and Ed Harper.((//The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 6 May 1949.)) Whitehorse was a White Pass & Yukon Route company town until 1950 when the community was incorporated. Until then, the Board of Trade acted in the absence of an elected municipal government.  

Van Roggen was the only full-time lawyer in the territory until Eric Neilsen joined the firm in 1952 as a young Delhousie law school grad, just arrived in town with no money. Van Roggen and Neilsen were the lawyers for the Big Inch Land Company. Malcom McLaren had originally purchased land in the Klondike in 1911. He sold it to George Westbrook in 1926 and he sold it to Napoleon Marcoux in 1938. The company purchased the land after it fell into the hands of the Public Administrator after the owner and miner, M. Marcoux, died without a will in 1954.((David McDonald, "Give 'em an inch." //The Citizen's Weekly// (Ottawa), 25 April 1999.)) The Great Klondike Big Inch Land Company was a company formed by Quaker Oats. They divided up the land into 21 million square inches of land and asked customers to send in a box top from their product to receive a 5 x 8-inch deed. When the law prohibited them from trading a box top for land, they put the deeds in every box of cereal produced. The deeds were not registered so were never legally binding, and they did not include mineral right on the property. The 1955 promotion was tied to a Quaker Oats sponsored radio show, //Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.//((“The Klondike Big Inch Land Promotion.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Big_Inch_Land_Promotion))
	
Van Roggen returned to Vancouver in 1957 to specialize in corporate real estate. In 1966, he spearheaded the approval of pro-free trade resolution at a national Liberal Party convention. The motion passed, although Pearson was not in favour. Van Roggen was the campaign chair for the Liberals under Lester Pearson (1968) and Pierre Trudeau (1972). He was appointed to the Senate in 1971 and in 1974 became the chair of the Senate Committee of Foreign Affairs. He had the committee study free trade with the United States, and they recommended the negotiation of a free trade agreement. This was endorsed by the Senate in 1982 and adopted by a Royal Commission in 1985. The Progressive Conservatives, under Brian Mulrooney, accepted the recommendation and started negotiations with the United States. The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement was ratified in 1988. The Liberals, under John Turner came out against free trade and Van Roggen resigned from the Senate Foreign Committee in 1986 rather than vote against an idea he championed. The 1988 federal election was fought on this issue and Mulroney was re-elected. After the election, Van Roggen voted with the Conservative Senators to approve the Free Trade Agreement, while his fellow Liberals abstained. The Agreement came into effect in January 1989. Van Roggen was an economic conservative and a social liberal who supported the social safety net.((“George Van Roggen.” //Wikipedia,// 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Van_Roggen))