Georges Erasmus (original) (raw)

Georges Henry Erasmus, OC (born August 8, 1948 in Behchoko, Northwest Territories) is a Canadian politician. He was the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations from 1985 to 1991. Erasmus was born in a Dene community of the Northwest Territories to a family of 12 children. He attended high school in Yellowknife. In 1967, he was a volunteer with the Company of Young Canadians. He became president of the Dene Nation in 1974 and while president fought against the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. He was the federal New Democratic Party candidate in 1979 for Western Arctic riding.