Pat Duncan (b. 1960)
Pat Duncan was born in Edmonton and her family moved to the Yukon in 1964.1) Her mother was from Maine and her father from Glasgow, and all of her siblings were born in air force station in the United Kingdom.2) She holds a Bachelor of Arts [Political Science] from Carleton University.3)
Duncan served as Special Assistant, Constituency Affairs, to Minister of Parliament Erik Nielsen. She was the Yukon Member of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, Chair of the City of Whitehorse Environmental Health Board, and member of the Yukon Advisory Council on Health and Social Services. She was first elected to the Yukon Legislature in 1996 and became leader of the Yukon Liberal Party in 1998. She was elected premier of the Yukon in 2000.4)
Duncan was the second woman in Canadian history to be voted in as Premier through a general election. She was also the first woman to win an election where all the competing parties were led by men. It was a surprise to Canadians and The Globe and Mail kept announcing “Mr. Duncan’s” victory. That same year, five out of the six major political positions in the territory were occupied by women with Pat Duncan as Premier, Kathy Watson as the mayor of Whitehorse, Louise Hardy as the NDP MP, Ione Christensen as the Yukon senator, and Judy Gingell as the Yukon Commissioner. Half of Duncan’s cabinet were women, with Duncan, Sue Edelman, Pam Buckway, and Cynthia Tucker all holding ministerial portfolios.5)
Pat Duncan called an early election in 2002 and her party lost to Dennis Fentie and the Conservatives.6) The Yukon Liberal Party was reduced to just one seat and Duncan was the only Liberal in the opposition. Issues at the time included her support of building a new Grey Mountain Primary School and locking the government into a ten-year, $6 million build to lease, contract for the one-stop administration building on Quartz Road. Yukoners were worried about the economy.7)
Pat Duncan was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. She was appointed to the Senate by Justin Trudeau in December 2018. Senator Duncan is not affiliated with any political party. She sits with the Independent Senators Group and has served in the Senate Committee on National Finance and the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce.8)