Frank Cunningham

Frank Cunningham was a Canadian lawyer and public servant.

Frank Cunningham
Deputy Commissioner of Northwest Territories
In office 26 June 1951 – 10 April 1957
Preceded by	Roy A. Gibson
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
In office 26 June 1951 – 10 April 1957
Preceded by	Roy A. Gibson
Succeeded by	Wilfred G. Brown
Personal details
Died	1964
Residence	Ottawa
Profession	Civil servant, lawyer, magistrate

The Canadian Labor Defence League sent Cunningham along with Soloman Greenberg and W. H. Heffarnan to hear the cases of miners who had been arrested during the Saskatchewan Miner's struggle of 1931.[1] Cunningham headed the inquiry in the "On-to-Ottawa" march in 1935 and after the end of Second World War he headed the trials related to war crimes in Singapore.[2] He joined the public service in 1946.[3]

In 1950 he was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Northwest territories and was posted to Ottawa from Yellowknife.[3] He succeeded Roy A. Gibson[2] who had occupied the post for 40 years.[4] He was the deputy commissioner during 2nd Council of the Northwest Territories and was the appointed member of 1st Northwest Territories Legislative Council. After the 1954 Northwest Territories general election he was re-appointed the member of legislative council. Prior to joining public services he served in Northwest Territories Council as a lawyer.[5]

He was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories and the Deputy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories from 26 June 1951 to 10 April 1957.[6] He was also the director of Northern Administration and Lands Branch of the Department of Northern Affairs[7][8] and the director of Arctic affairs in 1956.

Cunningham lived in Ottawa. He retired from public service on 8 November 1963[3] and died in 1964.[2] Robert Gordon Robertson mentioned in his book Memoirs of a Very Civil Servant: Mackenzie King to Pierre Trudeau that though he was not imaginative, he had an encyclopedic knowledge of administrative details.[9]

References

1. Stephen Lyon Endicott (2002). Bienfait: The Saskatchewan Miners' Struggle of '31. University of Toronto Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-8020-8452-1.
2. Frank Tester; Peter Kulchyski (2011). Tammarniit (Mistakes): Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic, 1939-63. UBC Press. p. 376, no.70. ISBN 978-0-7748-4271-6.
3. North/Nord. Canada. Dept. of Northern Affairs and National Resources,Canada. Indian and Northern Affairs. 1963. p. 50.
4. Wade 2005, p. 115.
5. Wade 2005, p. 23.
6. "Past Commissioners". commissioner.gov.nt.ca. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
7. Timber of Canada. Monetary Times Publications. 1952.
8. Robertson 2000, p. 146.
9. Robertson 2000, p. 169.

Bibliography

• Robertson, Robert Gordon (2000). Memoirs of a Very Civil Servant: Mackenzie King to Pierre Trudeau. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-4445-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wade, Frank (2005). Advocate for the North. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4122-2978-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)