Pat Duncan (1960 - )

Pat Duncan was the first female and the first Liberal premier of the Yukon. She was the second woman in Canadian history to win the premiership of a province or territory through a general election.

• Before entering politics, Duncan was a small business owner and active in her local community.
• When she became the first female premier of the Yukon in 2000, newspaper reporters in the rest of Canada mistakenly referred to her as “Mr. Duncan.”
• She appointed a cabinet with three female and three male members apart from herself, which was a rarity in politics.
• Duncan helped arrange the transfer of power from Canada’s federal government to the territory of Yukon in 2001, allowing the Yukon to manage their own natural resources and use them for economic development and provide much-needed employment.
• She helped First Nations settle land claims and take control of areas that were rightly theirs.
• Born in Edmonton Alberta, she has lived most of her life in the Yukon. She has a degree in Political Science from Carleton University in Ottawa.