Fonds 405 - Mark de Weerdt fonds

Mark Murray de Weerdt was born in Cologne, Germany in 1928, but was a Belgian national at birth by virtue of his parent’s nationality. His family emigrated to Belgium in 1933 and then moved to Scotland in 1935 where Mark de Weerdt spent most of his childhood. After immigrating to Canada in 1949 with his parents and siblings, he completed his post-secondary education in British Columbia. His early career included stints with both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the federal justice department in Ottawa. He married Anne Hadwen in 1956 with whom he had four sons. Anne studied occupational therapy and physiotherapy.

Mark de Weerdt relocated to Yellowknife in 1958, just two years after completing his law degree from the University of British Columbia. Upon his arrival, he discovered that he was one of only two lawyers in town. He undertook to complete the unfinished work of the Honourable John Parker, who had recently been appointed as a judge of the Territorial Court. In due course, Mark de Weerdt was sworn in by Justice J.H. Sissons. He later accepted the appointment to the position of Crown Attorney for the Northwest Territories and Agent for the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Canada. As a member of Judge Sissons' circuit court, Mark de Weerdt journeyed to the remote communities of the Northwest Territories. These trips into small villages, provided him with a glimpse into the daily lives of the indigenous population, and the opportunity participate in cases involving both affiliates of northern Canada’s diverse aboriginal population and non-aboriginal residents.

In addition to the Crown work, Mark de Weerdt assumed a growing case load of other work, including document preparation and advisory services. He left his own legal firm in 1971 to become Magistrate and Juvenile Court Judge for the NWT. He held that position until 1973. In 1974 he joined the Legal Division of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia in Vancouver where he remained until 1976. He rejoined the federal justice department’s Vancouver office in 1976 and remained with federal Department of Justice in Vancouver until 1981,

Mark de Weerdt returned to the Northwest Territories in 1981 when he was appointed as a Judge in the Supreme Court for the Northwest Territories. During his time on the Supreme Court, Mark de Weerdt presided over many cases including the first degree murder trial that followed the Giant Mine explosion that resulted in the deaths of nine men. He remained in that position until his retirement in 1996. At that time he and his wife Anne returned to Vancouver, British Columbia.
Mark de Weerdt died in September of 2003.