{{short description|Canadian politician}} {{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = <!-- only free-content images are allowed for depicting living people - see WP:NONFREE --> | image_size = | name = Ernie Bernhardt | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1944}} | birth_place = | office1 = MLA for Kitikmeot, NT | term_start1 = 1991 | term_end1 = 1993 | predecessor1 = new district | successor1 = Kelvin Ng | party = non-partisan<br />consensus government | occupation = }} '''Ernest Bernhardt''' (born c. 1944) is a former territorial level politician in Canada.
== Early life == Bernhardt was born in or around 1944.<ref name=":1" /> He lost his mother at 10 months old, and his siblings and a nun cared for him afterwards. His father was a hunter and trapper. Bernhardt had to attend an Immaculate Conception Indian Residential School in Aklavik, Northwest Territories, then moved at age 15 to Akaitcho Hall residential school in Yellowknife in 1959 and Grandin College in Fort Smith at age 18.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Dubuc |first=Chantal |date=2021-08-04 |title=Survivor's memories of plane trip to N.W.T. residential school points to aviation's role in the system |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yellowknife-plane-residential-school-1.6127160 |access-date=2025-06-12 |work=CBC News}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite podcast |url=https://www.howisurvived.ca/e/ernie-bernhardt/ |title=Ernie Bernhardt |website=How I Survived Podcast |publisher=PodBean |last=Fraser |first=Crystal |date=2024-11-26 |access-date=2025-06-21}}</ref> He learned trapping muskrat from the boy scouts group during his time at the Immaculate Conception school. He sold thousands of dollars' worth of muskrats he trapped; the school and the church took all the money he made. He also learned oil painting and boxing at the school. While at Grandin College, he applied to study in Kugluktuk to be with his father.<ref name=":3" />
He learned Arctic sports from Edward Lennie and later was hired to be the coordinator for the sport. He performed the one-handed leg-kick at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Episode 5 - Ernie Bernhardt {{!}} Podcast Transcript |url=https://www.howisurvived.ca/p/episode-5-ernie-bernhardt/ |access-date=2025-06-21 |website=How I Survived}}</ref> He coached Arctic sports for Kugluktuk High School.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Participant biography |url=https://awg2008.gems.pro/result/ShowPerson.aspx?Person_GUID=A1BC9856-DCDC-43A0-881D-2CB83B324A06&SetLanguage=en-GB&Gems_ScreenWidth=1536&Gems_ScreenHeight=864&Gems_ScreenAvailWidth=1536&Gems_ScreenAvailHeight=816 |access-date=2025-06-21 |website=Yellowknife 2008 Arctic Winter Games}}</ref>
== Political career == Bernhardt was first elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in the Kitikmeot district in the 1991 Northwest Territories general election, defeating Kelvin Ng and three others.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Michaud |first=Maurice Y. |date=22 June 2019 |title=People: Ernest Bernhardt |url=https://equitablevote.textstyle.ca/index.php?lang=1&sec=peo&pg=fp&profid=8926 |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=PoliCan}}</ref> He resigned mid-term in 1993 which Ng won in the subsequent by-election.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Bell |first=Jim |date=2003-09-26 |title=Kelvin Ng to quit territorial politics |url=https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/kelvin_ng_to_quit_territorial_politics/ |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=Nunatsiaq News |language=en}}</ref> Bernhardt faced off Ng again in the same district in the 1995 Northwest Territories general election but was defeated by Ng.<ref name=":1" />
In November 2009, Bernhardt was acclaimed as mayor of Kugluktuk, saying that he wished to maintain a "unified municipal council." Bernhardt was sworn in on December 7, 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mayor acclaimed in Kugluktuk |url=http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/nov23_09ma.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714190510/http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/nov23_09ma.html |archive-date=2011-07-14 |access-date=2009-11-25 |website=NNSL}}</ref>
== Personal life == Bernhardt is married to his wife Beatrice.<ref name=":2" /> He has an older sister, Wilma. As of May 2022, he resides in Yellowknife.<ref name=":3" />
==References== <references/>
==External links== *[http://www.cbc.ca/nunavutvotes2004/riding/005/index.html Nunavut Votes 2004 Cambridge Bay Profile]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|ca-nt}} {{succession box | title = MLA Kitikmeot | before = New District | after = Kelvin Ng | years = 1991-1993 }} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhardt, Ernest}} Category:20th-century Inuit politicians Category:21st-century Inuit politicians Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories Category:Living people Category:Inuit from the Northwest Territories Category:Mayors of Kugluktuk Category:Inuit from Nunavut Category:21st-century mayors of places in Nunavut Category:1944 births