Frank B. Fingland (1928 - 2025)
Frank Fingland was born in Toronto, Ontario. He attended the University of Toronto and was in the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve. He then attended the London School of Economics in England. In 1951, he worked with the Topographical Survey of Canada in northern British Columbia. In 1952, he worked for the Survey in the Ogilvie Mountains and in 1955 he worked with them again in Yukon’s Hyland River country. He joined the Yukon division of DIAND in 1955 and became the Secretary of the Northwest Territories Council based in Ottawa. In 1960, Fingland moved to Whitehorse and worked in the Commissioner’s office until 1964. In 1964/65 he was reginal administrator of the Baffin Region in Frobisher Bay (Iqaluit) and then went back to Ottawa for a year with the Department of Forestry. From 1966 to 1969, he was in Whitehorse as the Executive Assistant to Yukon Commissioners Gordon Cameron and Jim Smith. He worked with Smith for three years and then went back to DIAND and the Privy Council office in Ottawa from 1969 to 1971. He returned to Whitehorse in 1971-1972 as Administrator and Executive Assistant to Jim Smith. From 1972 to 1978, he was in Ottawa and Quebec.1)
In the early 1970s, Frank Fingland was instrumental, on behalf of Hugh Faulkner federal minister of Northern Affairs, in developing the Yukon Council into the Yukon Legislative Assembly and growing the Executive Council to three and then four elected members.2)
After Commissioner Pearson resigned, Fingland was appointed Interim Commissioner of the Yukon. His term was from 1 November 1978 to 19 January 1979.3) He returned to Ottawa with DIAND from 1979 to 1982, and then worked for the Yukon Deputy Minister of Finance, of Government Services, and of the Executive Council from 1982 to 1991. From 1991 to 2002, he did contract work with Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and Kwanlin Dün among others. He lectured for a year at Yukon College. After Fingland retired, he and his wife Ilene moved to Victoria in 2002.4)