Nick Sibbeston was born in Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories on Nov. 21, 1943.
As a child, he described his early years as idyllic. He was raised by his mother and an elderly woman named Ehmbee, whom he considered to be his grandmother. He would snare rabbits for dinner, and spent time with his cousins.
At the age of five, he was put into a variety of residential schools. In these schools, he dealt with loneliness, physical abuse and sexual abuse. He didn’t see his mother for six years.
He said years later,
“Those six years in residential school were the most traumatic period of my life. I experienced loneliness, sadness, abandonment, helplessness, insecurity and many psychological and physical hurts. I was constantly teased because I was fairer than the rest of the boys. I was sexually assaulted by a bigger boy. I was treated cruelly by the nuns.”
After he got out of residential school, he began to play community square dances in the area. His first instrument was one he ordered through the mail. He said,
“So that’s where I started learning how to play the chords and spent hours and hours and hours with my cousins behind our house in the grass, in the shade, playing and singing.”
Eventually, he became a member of The Arctic Ramblers, while he began to prepare for his professional adult life.
Growing up, his mother told him her dream was that he would work a job where he would wear a white shirt.
He went on to attend the University of Alberta and graduated with a degree in law. He was the first Indigenous lawyer in the history of the Northwest Territories.
In 1970, he was elected to a four-year term on the North West Territorial Council. He defeated incumbent Don Stewart, the mayor of Hay River.
At the time, Sibbeston was the secretary-manager of the hamlet council at Fort Rae.
This began a stretch that lasted for two decades in the Legislature. His win was the same year that four other Indigenous individuals were elected to the Legislature.
In his first term, he advocated for better medical care for Inuit in remote villages, and criticized the government as being one that was not willing to hire Inuit workers.
In his second term, he was elected to serve in the executive council, or cabinet.
He quickly gained a reputation for his passion and fiery personality in the Legislature.
During this time, he frequently attacked government education policies, Indigenous MLAs who remained silent, the government’s poor housing in Dene settlements and the need for land claims to be settled.
At one point, he visited all the houses in a community in his riding. He found homes with foundations rotting, holes in the floors, and no running water. He had been told by the government when he raised the issue that things would be done, but nothing was.
He said,
“You come here with a government official and people expect something to come of it. They don’t understand how government works. Their contact with government is restricted to once a year when the treaty party comes in.”
One issue he raised was that people who only spoke Slavey could not talk to their government. He also criticized the government for selling liquor when alcoholism was a major problem in the North.
In late February 1981, during a heated incident, he was thrown out of the Legislature for throwing a cup of coffee onto the floor while arguing with MLA Peter Fraser. Sibbeston stated they could settle the issue related to conflict of interest over the Esso Resources Oilfield.
On March 13, 1981, Sibbeston resigned his seat in anger over the incident with Fraser. He stated he would spend his time urging Inuit in his region to become more involved in all levels of the government.
People around him told him he needed to go back and continue to fight for the Inuit people and the Dene. He said in April 1981,
“The meetings have given me new energy, new determination to keep on. I hope to go back to council even more forceful than before.”
When he came back, he was still fiery in his debates.
In February 1982, Sibbeston had taken off his suit, vest and tie in the middle of a meeting and put on a moosehide vest, and criticized the adoption of foreign governance symbols in the North.
He said,
“I spoke about the racism toward the Native people in this part of the North, and how white people had imposed their system on us. In frustration, I declared, I am serious to the point of crying on this issue. Tagak Curley, who was sitting two seats away from me, interrupted saying Cry! Cry tears!”
At this point, Sibbeston turned to Curley and stated he should watch out or he will get a punch. According to Sibbeston, he kept making rude remarks so Sibbeston went over and hit him with his fist. Sibbeston was expelled from the Legislature for the day and apologized the next day.
In 1985, after six years in cabinet, Sibbeston became the premier of the Northwest Territories. For the previous two years, he had been the Minister of Local Government. He beat out Education Minister Dennis Patterson to become leader.
He had worked at restraining himself over the previous two years, but was still known for his passionate speeches. He continued to wear his beaded vest to the assembly. He was also instrumental in having Inuit wall-hangings, moose-hair tuftings, beadwork and Dene drums put on the walls of the chamber.
Upon his election, he stated,
“I will be impartial and trust in the good will and compromising ability of all members and leaders of the north to come to a norther solution on division.”
Soon after he was elected as leader, he worked to expand the power of his office to put his position more in line with the powers that premiers had in the provinces.
He said,
“If you control the people who work for you, you control in effect a substantial aspect of government. If there ever was a time in the history of the North when native people could get hired in all levels of government, this is it.”
As premier, one of his main focuses was to have the Indigenous languages of the Northwest Territories made official along with English and French. In order to reach this goal, he held a historic filibuster and spoke Slavey.
Thanks to his efforts, there are now nine Indigenous languages spoken and translated in the Legislative Assembly.
Sibbeston also pledged to oppose Meech Lake unless there was more Indigenous input on the matter. He also criticized the fact that the provinces all had to approve the acceptance of new provinces into Confederation, something that would make it nearly impossible for the Northwest Territories to gain provincehood.
He served as leader until November 1987.
The following year, Sibbeston quit the Northwest Territories cabinet over what he called minor portfolios. Initially, Sibbeston was appointed as the deputy government leader and minister of economic development and tourism. In a cabinet shuffle in the spring of 1988, he was given two junior portfolios of government services and the NWT Housing Corporation.
He said,
“I just decided that I wasn’t going to be content to be a minor minister in this government. I know my worth, I know what I am capable of, and it is much more than this.”
Despite this success in his professional life, he was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression from his time in residential school. He drank heavily and had several affairs while married to his wife Karen.
Eventually, through his Catholic faith and his wife Karen, he turned his life around. He began to get counseling therapy and attended Alcoholics Anonymous.
In 1991, after his time in the Legislature ended, he worked as a justice specialist for the territorial government. He also served for four years on the Canadian Human Rights Panel and was a Slavey-language advisor for the show North of 60.
He also ran a bed and breakfast with his wife in Fort Simpson.
In 1999, Sibbeston was appointed to the Senate of Canada. His goal in the Senate was to find a new name for the Northwest Territories to reflect its people better. He also focused on the mitigation of climate change.
He said,
“It is a very humbling experience to be called by the prime minister. I’m very honoured. I will speak out on behalf of the North.”
While his name was rumoured for the Senate, he was not expecting to receive the call.
In 2014, he was criticized for his low-attendance in the Senate. He stated that party politics was the reason he missed 51 out of 70 votes. In the Northwest Territories, there are no political parties.
In 2015, Sibbeston wrote You Will Wear A White Shirt, his autobiography.
In September 2017, Sibbeston announced he would resign on his 74th birthday from the Senate.
He stated he wanted to focus on his family, travel and spirituality. He was also finding the travel to and from Ottawa more difficult. He said,
“As you get older, the traveling back and forth to Ottawa is arduous … it was just a time to move on.”
He added,
“I thought it is as good a day as any to pull the plug. To tell the governor general that I would be resigning on my 74th birthday. I have one year left, but in the interest of not just treading water here, just letting go, getting someone else to be the Senator, it all added up to me deciding to go.”
Information from Indspire, Writers Festival, Wikipedia, CBC, Calgary Albertan, Edmonton Journal, Toronto Star, Whitehorse Daily Star, Windsor Star,
