Yellowknife (Nov 24/06) - Isabel (Tibi) Hardie, the NWT's first female MP, died Nov. 14 at a seniors' home in White Rock, B.C.. She was 90.

After her husband, Liberal MP Merv Hardie, died while in office in 1961, Tibi won the party nomination and ran in the 1962 general election, winning the seat by 330 votes.

Tibi Hardie went into politics after her husband's death in 1961 to become the first MP. She served as a Liberal in Parliament from 1962 to 1963. - photo courtesy of Murray Hardie

Not only was she our first female MP, she was technically the first MP for the Northwest Territories, as the riding's name and boundaries were changed in 1962 to take in the entire territory.

"She was a mother of four and an MP," said her son Murray Hardie, a Canadian government representative based in Minnesota. "It was a challenge to balance the two roles but she made it work." She ran for re-election in 1963 but lost to Progressive Conservative candidate Eugene Rheume.

Tibi Hardie was born Isabel Fordyce in 1916 in Toronto. She was one of 11 children, eight of whom lived past childhood.

Her family moved from Toronto to Winnipeg during the Great Depression. After graduating high school, she entered a Fine Arts program in Winnipeg, and studied painting.

"My mother was a prolific painter," Murray Hardie said. "When she retired in the early 1980s, she spent most of her time doing that. I must have hundreds of her paintings."

In Winnipeg, Tibi Fordyce married, and had a daughter, Eleanor. Her first husband was killed while flying during a military exercise in Western Canada in 1946.

In 1947, the widow read a magazine article about the NWT, and later that year travelled to Yellowknife to see the place for herself.

"She always joked she was the first Yellowknife tourist," Murray Hardie said.

In Yellowknife, Tibi met her match in a 28-year-old man who was working at a local store. She married Merv Hardie in Winnipeg in 1948, then the two returned to Yellowknife.

In addition to her daughter from her first marriage, Tibi and Merv had three sons: Pete, who lives in Yellowknife, Murray, and her youngest boy Mackenzie, who lives in Ottawa.

Pete Hardie said his mother liked nature and children.

"She was an honest, clean living woman," he said. "She would never say anything bad about anyone... She always thought there was good in everyone."

During her term as MP, Tibi Hardie's work included getting infrastructure such as roads, hospitals and schools built, much of which is still around today. She lobbied for rail service to Pine Point and for regular ferry service across the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence. That ferry bears her husband's name.

After her stint in politics, Tibi Hardie spent 20 years working in government administration in Yellowknife. In 1982, she retired and moved to B.C..

A private service for Tibi Hardie will be held at a future date in B.C..