Red Pedersen

Red Pedersen
Mayor of Kugluktuk
In office 1 January 2014 – incumbent
Preceded by	Ernie Bernhardt
MLA for Kitikmeot West
In office 1983–1991
Preceded by	New district
Succeeded by	Riding dissolved
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories
In office 1987–1989
Preceded by	Donald Morton Stewart
Succeeded by	Richard Nerysoo
Personal details
Born	1935 Denmark
Political party	non-partisan consensus government
Residence	Kugluktuk

Asger Rye "Red" Pedersen, sometimes Asgar Rye Pederson, (born 1935, Denmark) is a former territorial-level Canadian politician. In 1953, he got a job in the Canadian Arctic with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) at Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (then the Northwest Territories). In the following year, he was sent to Perry River (Kuugjuak) to assist Stephen Angulalik, the Ahiarmiut Inuit owner of the trading post, with the financial records, inventory and ordering, as Angulalik spoke no English. In 1957, Angulalik sold the Perry River post to the HBC and Pedersen was appointed manager. Angulalik returned to the post after resolving legal problems and worked alongside Pedersen; they became lifelong friends.

Ten years later, Pedersen became an area administrator for the Canadian government in Coppermine (Kugluktuk), Pangnirtung and Fort Rae (Behchoko). From 1983-1991, he was a member of the Northwest Territories Legislature. Pedersen was first elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in the 1983 Northwest Territories general election, winning the Kitikmeot West electoral district. He was re-elected in the 1987 Northwest Territories general election. Pedersen was elected Speaker of the Assembly on November 12, 1987 and served that role until October 18, 1989.

In 2001, he was one of three members of the Legislative Assembly of the NWT's "Independent Commission on Members Compensation". Pedersen was a Board Member and Chairperson of the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency until his retirement in 2003.

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