Melissa Atkinson (1974 - 2019)

Melissa Atkinson was a citizen of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation with Han, Kaska, and Tlingit roots. In 1999, she was one of the first indigenous Yukon women to graduate from the law program at the University of Victoria, and in 2002 she became Yukon’s first Indigenous Crown attorney. She was a senior lawyer with the Yukon Legal Services Society until 2004. From 2004 to 2010 Atkinson was the chair of the Yukon Human Rights Commission.¹⁾ She led the Commission during a pivotal period of law reform. Her leadership was critical to important amendments to the Yukon Human Rights Act in 2009. The amendments improved human rights protections and enhanced the human rights system in Yukon.²⁾ She was fierce advocate for marginalized and vulnerable people. Atkinson ran but was unsuccessful as the New Democratic party candidate in the 2015 federal election.³⁾