Frank Calder

Frank Arthur Calder was a Nisga'a politician in British Columbia, the first Indigenous person elected to any Canadian legislature. Elected as a CCF/NDP MLA for Atlin in 1949, he served continuously until 1975. He crossed the floor to Social Credit in 1975 after being expelled from the NDP for supporting the Social Credit government's legislation on Indigenous land claims. His landmark Supreme Court Case, Calder v. British Columbia (1973), established the existence of Aboriginal title in Canadian law.