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

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

from

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, Canada.

Early life and career

Ootes was born in the Schagen,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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 transpo ...

. 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 traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many 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, sometimes known as Stu, OC (April 1, 1924 – December 18, 2015) was the commissioner of the Northwest Territories (NWT) from March 2, 1967 until April 6, 1979. The first Commissioner to actually reside in the Northwest Ter ...

. 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 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

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 Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, a ...

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 than ...

. 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 r ...

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

Case Ootes Case Ootes (born 1941) is a former city councillor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for Ward 29 Toronto—Danforth. He represented one of the two Toronto—Danforth wards. He served as deputy mayor of the amalgamated City of Toronto under Mayor Mel ...

is a municipal councilor in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

and married to

Margaret Ootes Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular througho ...

References

External links

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