George Hickes (Manitoba politician) facts for kids

George Hickes was born on June 26, 1946. He is a politician from Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1990 to 2011. He also served as the Speaker of the Assembly from November 1999 to October 2011. George Hickes is a member of the New Democratic Party.

George Hickes is the father of George Hickes Jr., who is also a politician in Nunavut. He is also the uncle of Nunavut politician Hunter Tootoo and hockey player Jordin Tootoo.

George Hickes' Early Life and Work

George Hickes was born into an Inuit family near Ports Point. This area is now part of Nunavut. He grew up in Churchill, Manitoba. His childhood involved both traditional Inuit ways of life and modern Canadian society.

When he was young, he hunted beluga whales. This was a long-standing tradition in Inuit culture. He was known as "coldwater cowboy" because he worked without nets. Whales caught by Hickes have descendants that can still be seen in aquariums around the world.

In the early 1970s, Hickes worked with heavy equipment. He was at the Tar Sands Project in Fort McMurray, Alberta. He also had many different jobs in Churchill during that time. In 1976, he joined Manitoba's New Careers program. He later said this program helped him avoid a life of poverty. After finishing the program in 1978, Hickes became a trainer. He worked as a coordinator for New Careers in Winnipeg until 1984. Later, he was the executive director of the Limestone Training and Employment Agency. This agency was near Gillam, Manitoba. He also helped create an education program for the Yukon.

George Hickes' Political Career

Becoming a Member of the Assembly

Before the 1990 provincial election, George Hickes planned to run for the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the Rupertsland area. However, he decided not to when another politician, Elijah Harper, became very well-known. Instead, Hickes was elected to represent Point Douglas. This area is in north-end Winnipeg and has a large Indigenous community. He won every election after that. In the 2003 election, he received almost 75% of the votes.

From 1990 to 1999, the NDP was the Official Opposition in the Manitoba legislature. This means they were the main party not in power. During this time, Hickes served as his party's whip. A whip makes sure party members vote together.

He helped make November 8 a special day to honor Manitoba's Indigenous veterans. He also successfully pushed for a law about cooking liqueurs. This law required that cooking liqueurs sold in Manitoba have no more than 25% alcohol. This change happened after some people in Winnipeg died from Chinese cooking wine with higher alcohol content.

In 1994, Hickes spoke against creating a political party just for Indigenous people. He believed such a party could not truly represent communities with many different cultures. He said that in his own area of Point Douglas, there were people from Ukraine, the Philippines, and China. He wondered what would happen to them if a politician only represented one group.

In 1999, Manitoba's election areas were changed. Hickes was challenged for the Point Douglas NDP nomination by another politician, Conrad Santos. Santos's old area had been removed. Hickes won the challenge. Santos then ran and was elected in a new area called Wellington.

Serving as Speaker of the Assembly

The NDP won the 1999 election and formed a majority government. This meant they had more than half the seats. George Hickes was chosen to be the new Speaker of the Assembly. He won against Santos, Denis Rocan, and Marcel Laurendeau in a vote by all the members. He was the first Speaker chosen this way. Before him, the Premier (the leader of the government) usually picked the Speaker. Hickes was re-elected as Speaker in 2003.

He was also re-elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 2007 provincial election. Soon after, he was re-elected as Speaker without anyone running against him. Leaders of the other parties, Hugh McFadyen and Jon Gerrard, both said they thought Hickes was fair and balanced.

On February 10, 2011, George Hickes announced that he would not run for re-election in the next provincial election.