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Fred Carmichael, President
Fred Carmichael was born in 1935 to the parents of an Irish trapper (and the first elected member of the Territorial Council representing the Mackenzie Delta) and a Gwich’in descendant of a long line of Gwich’in Chiefs. He received his private pilot license in 1954 - the first Aboriginal pilot from the region to do so – and bought his first plane the following year. In 1958, he became the first Aboriginal person in the Northwest Territories to earn his wings as a commercial pilot.
Fred started Reindeer Air Service in 1959, which grew into 15 aircraft including DC-3s, C-46s and C-47s. Reindeer Air employed and trained the northern and Aboriginal people of the area, practicing affirmative action long before it became policy. A number of pilots trained under Reindeer Air Service are today captains or senior pilots on major airlines throughout the world.
In 1982, Fred started Antler Aviation which expanded again into a 15-plane enterprise before being sold. He started Western Arctic Nature Tours in 1990 and flew visitors from all over the world on tours of Inuvik and the surrounding Delta communities for the next eight years.
Fred has not had an accident in over 50 years of flying including search-and-rescues, and still holds a commercial pilot licence. He is a lifetime Honourary Membership by the Northern Air Transport Association and in 1998, the people of his hometown of Aklavik honoured him by renaming the Aklavik airport the Freddie Carmichael Airport.
In 2000, Fred was elected President of the Gwich’in Tribal Council where he is serving his second term. In 2002, he was appointed chair of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, a one-third partner in the proposed MacKenzie Valley Pipeline. In February 2006, he was inducted into the Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.
As a witness to the many changes of the Beaufort-Delta region, Mr. Carmichael is a firm and tireless advocate of the Aboriginal people of the North regaining their self-sufficiency and self-reliance through the building of a strong and viable economic base, rather than being forever dependent on government hand-outs.
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