Erik Hersholt Nielsen (1924 – 2008)
Erik Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and spent his youth in Fort Norman, NWT. His father was a member of the RCMP and, as they were the only white family in the community, the Nielsen brothers often spoke Dogrib instead of English. Erik joined the RCAF at age eighteen and during the Second World War flew twenty-three missions on a Lancaster crew, and thirty-three missions as a pilot officer. He returned to Canada with a Distinguished Flying Cross, and an English bride.1)
Nielsen applied for leave without pay and studied law in Halifax. By 1949, he had finished his degree and returned full time to the Air Force. He was not transferred to the JAG office as he had wished, but instead moved to Edmonton with security and intelligence. Without the advancement he wanted, he resigned from the Air Force with great regret. Nielsen arrived in Whitehorse in February 1952 and was admitted to the bar as a lawyer in April. George Van Roggen was the lawyer in town and Eric became his partner in 1953 and until Van Roggen left town in 1958.2)
Nielsen ran as a Progressive Conservative in the 1957 federal election and lost, but the result was contested, and Nielsen was elected to parliament in a by-election. He remained in office for thirty years. He was a back bencher in Diefenbaker’s government then rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s as a member of the opposition.3)
In 1962, a bill sponsored by Nielsen gave the vote to all citizens in the Northwest Territories for the first time. The Conservative were re-elected that year but with a minority government. 4) After the 1979 election, Nielsen was appointed Minister of Public Works in Joe Clark’s short-lived minority government. The Conservatives were defeated in 1980 and Nielsen then served as Opposition House Leader from 1981 to 1983. He organized the “Bell Ringing Affair” to protest the Liberal’s energy bill, and for three weeks the Opposition refused to answer the bell calling the members of parliament to the chamber to vote. Nielsen was Leader of the Opposition after Joe Clark’s resignation and until the new leader, Brian Mulroney, won a seat in a by-election. Nielsen then returned to his role as House Leader.5)
Prime Minister Mulroney chose Nielsen as deputy prime minister from 1984 to 1986, and President of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada from 1984 to 1985. Nielsen then served as Minister of National Defense from 1985 to 1986. He earned the nickname “Velcro lips” for his habit of reticence during his time in office. His tenaciousness and belligerence worked for the party when they were in opposition, but as a minister he seemed secretive and disdainful. He stonewalled questions, which prolonged political scandals and hurt the party’s reputation. Nielsen had to handle one scandal while Mulroney was out of Parliament for two weeks, and when he returned in June 1986, Mulroney asked Nielsen to resign from cabinet.6)
Nielsen resigned from Parliament in 1987 when he was chosen as chairman of the National Transportation Agency. He left the public service in 1992 to become president of Solar Engineering, Hawaii and Solar Electric Engineering Distributors Canada. Nielsen published his memoir, The House is Not a Home, in 1989. He died at his home in Kelowna, British Columbia. The Yukon Government renamed the Whitehorse airport in his honour.7)