William Joseph Christie was an early Canadian politician and prominent Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 employee. He served as a Councilor on the Temporary North-West Council

Temporary North-West Council

The Temporary North-West Council more formally known as the Council of the Northwest Territories and by its short name as the North-West Council lasted from the creation of Northwest Territories, Canada, in 1870 until it was dissolved in 1876...

 from 1872 to 1873.

Hudson Bay career

Christie served a long career with the Hudson's Bay Company. His career gave him a special relationship with native populations in the territories. The cree in particular consulted him about their concerns over the lack of Canadian government representatives and rumors of armed hostilities against the natives.

Politics

Christie was appointed to the Temporary North-West Council, the first government for the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

 on December 28, 1872. His appointment was short lived as he resigned from the council less than a year later.

In May 1875 the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 leased Christie's home in Selkirk

Selkirk, Manitoba

Selkirk is a city in the western Canadian province of Manitoba, located about 22 km northeast of the provincial capital Winnipeg on the Red River, near . As of the 2006 census, Selkirk had a population of 9,515....

, Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

 to use as a telegraph office.

His grand daughter Edith Rogers served as a MLA in the Manitoba Legislature.