Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 30/06) - The first aboriginal woman elected to parliament will be remembered for her tireless efforts on behalf of all Northerners, and frequent brushes with controversy.

Ethel Blondin-Andrew with her husband Leon Andrew Jan. 23 at the White Fox in Yellowknife, where she gathered with her supporters. - Dorothy Westerman/NNSL photo

Ethel Blondin-Andrew "ran as a Liberal, but her heart is in working for the North," said Bill Erasmus, regional vice-chief for the Assembly of First Nations. "That was her strength. I don't think people in the North recognize her role in parliament.

"Very little happened in the North on First Nations and aboriginal issues unless it passed Ethel first. We were very fortunate in that," Erasmus said.

An educator and public servant, Blondin-Andrew, 54, ran against Brian Mulroney's Conservative tide when she was first elected in 1988.

Range Lake MLA Sandy Lee, manager of Blondin-Andrew's Yellowknife campaign in her last run for office, said Blondin-Andrew caught the attention of people in Ottawa at the start of her political career.

Friends who Lee met at Carleton University "reminded me almost daily of the new MP from the Western Arctic who was such a hit on Parliament Hill.

"She was a big force right away and built from there," said Lee.

"She put the North on the map in Ottawa. That will all be more clearly understood the longer she is away."

Blondin-Andrew's 17-year career wasn't without its rough patches.

In 1999, the MP was singled out for her use of the government jet to fly between Ottawa and Yellowknife. It cost taxpayers $749,705, which she defended as a necessary expense.

Three years earlier, Reform MPs demanded that she be fired from her post as Secretary of State for children and youth for charging personal vacations and a fur coat to her government credit card.

Then-prime minister Jean Chretien dismissed it as "some small mistakes."

The MP was in the headlines again when a woman said she tried to discourage her from going to police with an accusation that Chretien's son had sexually assaulted her daughter.

Barely into her final term, Blondin-Andrew was back in the headlines one more time when Todd Burlingame, a personal friend, was chosen over recommended candidates as chair of the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board.

One criticism levelled at Blondin-Andrew earlier in her career was her focus on issues in small communities at the expense of Yellowknife, where she fared poorly last Monday.

"I think the perceptions were more historic than current," said Yellowknife mayor Gord Van Tighem.

"She was instrumental in bringing forward the Northern Strategy program and in the last term she focused more on Yellowknife and we had good access to her."

Van Tighem told a story that he believes illustrates Blondin-Andrew's willingness to listen and her effectiveness as an MP.

At the tail end of a visit to Terrace, B.C., she met with the local health group at the airport. Anticipating that she was in a rush, they came armed with briefing notes and a Powerpoint presentation.

"She said 'I'm not in a hurry, I'm here to listen.' At the end, everything they talked about was addressed. She was patient. She listened to people."

Lee thinks Blondin-Andrew was "misunderstood perhaps, and under-appreciated. Industry loved her, whether it was the pipeline or diamond mines, and that all translates into benefits for Yellowknife."

Blondin-Andrew left political life with no definite plan for the future, but Lee thinks she will soon be back in the public eye.

"Ethel is a formidable player in Canada and internationally. I'm sure we'll see her taking on a very important role," Lee said.

With 17 years of contributions to the MP's pension fund, Blondin-Andrew can take her time choosing what to do next.

She will receive a severance cheque for $35,583 and will get an annual pension of $137,820 - worth $3,762,346 if she lives to age 75.