Jake Ootes (born August 5, 1942) is a retired territorial level politician and newspaper and magazine

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

from

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, Canada.

Early life and career

Ootes was born in the Schagen,

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in 1942 and moved with his family to Canada in 1952 and lived in

Renfrew, Ontario Renfrew is a town on the Bonnechere River in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Located one hour west of Ottawa in Eastern Ontario, Renfrew is the fourth largest town in the county after Petawawa, Pembroke and Arnprior. The town is a small tran ...

. Ootes worked as reporters in newspapers in Ontario and then moved into the federal civil service in the 1960s. Ootes began his career in politics working for the Northwest Territories Legislative Council in 1964 as a

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...

editor, he worked in that position until 1967. In 1967 Ootes became an Executive Assistant for Northwest Territories Commissioner

Stuart Milton Hodgson Stuart Milton Hodgson OC (April 1, 1924 – December 18, 2015) was the commissioner of the Northwest Territories (NWT) from March 2, 1967 until April 6, 1979. Early life Hodgson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the second son of Allan a ...

. He served in that position until 1975. Ootes left his position in the Commissioners office to buy a newspaper in 1975, he grew a small publishing business. Publishing newspapers and magazines until he sold his interests in 1995 to run for electoral politics. Ootes was elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in the

1995 Northwest Territories general election 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

winning the

Yellowknife Centre Yellowknife Centre is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is one of seven districts that represent Yellowknife. Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) Election results ...

district. He won his second term in office with 60% of the vote in the

1999 Northwest Territories general election The 1999 Northwest Territories general election was held on December 6, 1999. This was the first election under the new boundaries that were created when Nunavut was carved out of the Northwest Territories. 19 members were elected, five fewer tha ...

. He retired from his seat at the dissolution of the legislative assembly in the 2003 election. Ootes now owns

Celista Estate Winery Celista is a small community located along the north shore of Shuswap Lake in British Columbia, Canada. The local school is North Shuswap Elementary school, which has grades one to eight and has an annual enrollment of just over 100 students. In ...

Celista, British Columbia Celista is a small community located along the north shore of Shuswap Lake in British Columbia, Canada. The local school is North Shuswap Elementary school, which has grades one to eight and has an annual enrollment of just over 100 students. In ...

. Ootes has owned the winery since 1995 and moved to BC in 2005. His brother

Case Ootes Case Ootes (born 1941) is a retired Canadian politician who was the deputy mayor of Toronto from 1998 to 2003. On Toronto City Council, Ootes represented East York's Ward 29 Broadview—Greenwood. He was first elected in the 1990s and served o ...

is a municipal councilor in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and married to

Margaret Ootes Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Old Iranian. It has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. It became le ...

References

External links

Interview: Jake Ootes, MLA Constitutional Evolution in the Western Arctic
1942 births Living people Dutch emigrants to Canada People from Schagen People from Renfrew County Writers from Ontario Writers from Yellowknife 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories {{NorthwestTerritories-politician-stub