The Honourable Jim Prentice

Minister of Industry

Calgary North–Centre (Alberta)

Jim Prentice was elected to the House of Commons in 2004 and was re-elected in 2006. On February 6, 2006, he was appointed Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. Previous to this, Mr. Prentice was the Critic for Indian Affairs and Northern Development and later a member of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.

He has also served as the Chair of both the Government’s Operations Committee and the Environment and Energy Security Committee of Cabinet, and as a member of the Priorities and Planning and Social Affairs committees.

A lawyer by profession, Mr. Prentice has specialized in property rights and has focused on relocations, environmental protection suits and restricted development areas. He also served as a commissioner of the Indian Specific Claims Commission of Canada for 10 years and is recognized by his peers as an expert in land claims negotiations. Mr. Prentice travelled to South Africa twice as an expert adviser on how to protect property rights in that country’s new constitution.

Mr. Prentice holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta and a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University.

Raised in Northern Ontario and Alberta, Mr. Prentice is married to Karen and they have three daughters.

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