Eleanor Rae Millard (b. 1942)

Eleanor Millard was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia to Audrey (Campbell) and Eustace Reginald Millard. In 1965, she graduated from the University of British Columbia, with a BA in Fine Arts and English. She came north for a short visit and found work in the bar at the Occidental Hotel in Dawson. Liking the town, she applied and was hired as a social worker in Dawson for the Yukon Department of Welfare. From 1965 to 1969, she managed social programs in the area from Pelly Crossing to Old Crow with little support or supervision. She was a social activist with a great concern for the social condition of the Yukon’s Indigenous population. The Department of Indian Affairs controlled their everyday lives and circumstances and she thought they did so unfairly. In 1969, she quit, after several transgressions, when her job was transferred to Whitehorse. She travelled and worked at seasonal jobs from 1972 to 1974.¹⁾

In 1974, Eleanor was elected to the Territorial Council in the new riding of Ogilvie. It included the north end of Dawson, Clinton Creek, and Old Crow and only lasted for one term. The union president at the Clinton Creek mine, Jack Taylor, helped to organize her campaign. In 1975, the Yukon government proposed that all Yukon land be transferred to territorial control which would have meant that First Nation would have to negotiate land claims with the territory. DIAND Minister Judd Buchanan turned down the proposal saying all claims were to be settled before any transfer of land.²⁾

In March 1977, Millard was appointed to a new Standing Committee on Constitutional Development and served there until June 1978 when she was named to the Executive Committee and assumed responsibility for the Department of Education. During her term there were debates about a natural gas pipeline along the Alaska Highway that was proposed after Thomas Berger successfully delayed a pipeline in the Mackenzie Valley. Millard ran again in the 1978 election, which was organized along party lines, but was unsuccessful. She found politics, idealism, feminism, and social activism uncomfortable partners.³⁾

Millard returned to university, earned two master’s degrees and later helped set up the Yukon Literacy Council and other advocacy groups. She has travelled to Central America to study literacy programs in Jamaica, Cuba and Nicaragua. Millard was awarded the 6th annual Council of the Federation (COF) Literacy Award in 2010 and was congratulated on her impressive work in adult and First Nations literacy. Millard was a founding member of the Yukon Literacy Council and was instrumental in designing and implementing the first adult literacy programs in the Yukon. She was the developer and coordinator of Project Wordpower (Yukon Learn Society). She has worked in all three territories and continues to serve on several volunteer boards in the field of adult literacy. Millard is also an accomplished author.⁴⁾