Bill Lyall

Who is Bill Lyall?

Bill Lyall C.M. of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada is a former territorial level politician. Lyall was elected to the 8th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly in the 1975 election.

Lyall grew up in Taloyoak, known then as Spence Bay, Northwest Territories, one of ten children of Ernie and Nipisha Lyall. He attended Sir John Franklin High School in Yellowknife and then a technology college in Alberta.

After returning to Taloyoak, he later moved to Cambridge Bay. In 1975, he was elected to the NWT Legislature. He ran again in the 1979 election, as did his younger brother Bobby Lyall, but the election was won by Kane Tologanak.

In 1978, Lyall was elected president of the Ikaluktutiak Co-op in Cambridge Bay, a position he still holds. By 1993, he had helped the Co-op grow from $300,000 in assets to $2.3 million. Later in the 1970s he became a director of Canadian Arctic Producers, a native owned arts and crafts wholesaler. In 1981, he helped form the Arctic Cooperative, a merger between the Canadian Arctic Co-operative Federation and Canadian Arctic Producers. He is the current president of the Arctic Cooperative, a position he has held for several years, and represents the communities of Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak, Kugaaruk and Ulukhaktok.