Elijah Harper
|
Elijah Harper OM |
|
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Churchill | |
|
In office 1993–1997 |
|
| Preceded by | Rod Murphy |
| Succeeded by | Bev Desjarlais |
| Manitoba Minister of Northern Affairs | |
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In office February 4, 1987 – May 9, 1988 |
|
| Premier | Howard Pawley |
| Preceded by | Harry Harapiak |
| Succeeded by | Jim Downey |
| Manitoba Minister without Portfolio | |
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In office April 17, 1986 – February 4, 1987 |
|
| Premier | Howard Pawley |
| Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Rupertsland | |
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In office 1981 – November 30, 1992 |
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| Preceded by | Harvey Bostrom |
| Succeeded by | Eric Robinson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 3, 1949 Red Sucker Lake, Manitoba |
| Died | May 17, 2013 (aged 64) Ottawa, Ontario |
| Political party |
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| Alma mater | University of Manitoba |
Elijah Harper OM (March 3, 1949 – May 17, 2013) was a Canadian politician and Chief of his Red Sucker Lake community. He was a key player in the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord, an attempt at Canadian constitutional reform.
Elijah Harper was born in Red Sucker Lake, a reserve in northern Manitoba. He attended residential schools in Norway House, Brandon and Birtle, Manitoba, then secondary school at Garden Hill and Winnipeg. He studied at the University of Manitoba in 1971 and 1972, and later worked as a community development worker, a supervisor for the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood, and a program analyst for the Manitoba Department of Northern Affairs.
In 1978, he was elected as the Chief for Red Sucker Lake Band (now Red Sucker Lake First Nation), a position he held for four years.
In 1981, Harper contested and won the sprawling northern Manitoba riding of Rupertsland for the New Democratic Party to become the first Treaty Indian to be elected as a provincial politician. On April 17, 1986, he was appointed to cabinet as a Minister without Portfolio, responsible for Native Affairs. On February 4, 1987, he was named Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister in charge of the Communities Economic Fund Act. He was dropped from the Cabinet on September 9, 1987, after being involved in a car accident while driving under the influence of alcohol. No one was injured in the incident. Harper subsequently pleaded guilty to refusing a breathalyzer test, leaving the scene of an accident and driving while impaired. He was fined $450, and his driver's licence was suspended for a year. Harper acknowledged his mistake, and entered an alcohol-rehabilitation program. He stopped drinking for good, and voluntarily stopped driving for five years. He was reappointed as Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for Native Affairs, on November 23, 1987, and served until the defeat of Howard Pawley's government in 1988.
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