Biography

Glen Abernethy was first elected to the 16th Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories as the Member for Great Slave on October 1, 2007 and re-elected to the 17th Legislative Assembly on October 3, 2011.

Mr. Abernethy was born in 1971 in the Eastern Arctic community of Frobisher Bay, now known as Iqaluit in Nunavut.  His family moved to Fort Smith, NT in 1976 and Yellowknife, NT in 1978, where he currently resides with his wife, Carolyn Smith, whom he married in 2009.

He graduated from Sir John Franklin high school with an advanced diploma in 1989 and earned a diploma in Business Administration from Mount Royal College in Calgary, AB in 1993.

Within the 16th Legislative Assembly, Mr. Abernethy sat as a member of the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning as well as the Standing Committee on Government Operations. He was also the Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Programs. During the 16th Assembly’s first sitting in November 2007, Mr. Abernethy was selected as one of two Deputy Chairs of the Committee of the Whole.

Prior to his election Mr. Abernethy was a member of the Government of the Northwest Territories’ public service.  In addition, he actively participated in leadership roles in community organizations, such as the President of Folk On The Rocks, Commodore of the Great Slave Cruising Club, and as a Board Member of the Big Buddies Society of Yellowknife.  In addition, Mr. Abernethy has also been a regular supporter of other not-for-profit organizations through fundraising and volunteering.  He has worked with the Yellowknife Association of Concerned Citizens for Senior (YACCS) and the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities.

Mr. Abernethy is also an avid guitar and bass player and is a familiar face in Yellowknife’s music scene.