Quick Facts
Biography
Dennis Glen Patterson (born December 30, 1948) is a politician and lawyer. He served as MLA for Frobisher Bay and Iqaluit from 1978 to 1995, as NWT Minister of Education, Justice and Municipal Affairs and was chosen as the fifth consensus Government Leader (now Premier) of Northwest Territories, Canada from 1987 to 1991. He headed the campaign that led to the creation of Nunavut in 1999.
Patterson is currently a member of the Law Society of Nunavut. In the past he has served as a Director of the Northwest Territories Law Foundation and as Chair of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Legal Services Board until 2000. He became a private consultant in 2001.
Patterson was named to the Senate of Canada by Stephen Harper on August 27, 2009. He represents Nunavut as a Conservative.