Winnipeg Free Press
Thomas Berger a visionary who advanced Indigenous rights By: Niigaan Sinclair | Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 30, 2021
Thomas Berger gave Indigenous people a voice.
In 1974, when Canada held an inquiry into the construction of a gas pipeline through the Mackenzie River Valley in the Yukon and Northwest Territories through Dene, Inuit, and Métis land commissioner Berger did something unheard of.
He went to the people.
In what became known as the Berger Inquiry, he held hearings in all 35 communities. Most had a majority of Indigenous populations or were First Nations.
Instead of continuing the practice of government inquiries at the time (and frankly still is), Berger didn’t host meetings in expensive and intimidating city hotels. He held them in community halls and other places Indigenous people lived and worked.