Keith Penner

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B. Keith Penner (born May 1, 1933) is a Canadian public official and former politician. He currently serves on the Canadian Transportation Agency. He is best known for having chaired a House of Commons committee on Indian self-government in the early 1980s and for the report of the committee known as the Penner Report

Raised in Alberta, Penner later moved to northern Ontario. A teacher by training as well as holding a divinity degree, Penner entered politics in the 1968 federal election and was elected the Liberal MP for Thunder Bay, Ontario. He was re-elected in 1972 and 1974 for Thunder Bay and then in the 1979, 1980 and 1984 federal elections representing Cochrane) (later Cochrance—Superior). He did not seek re-election in the 1988 election.

Penner served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Science and Technology and to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.

In the 1980s, Penner was Chairman of the Standing Committee on Indian Affairs and Northern Development. The Committee released a report on Native Self-governance in 1983. Often referred to as the Penner Report it recommended the recognition of First Nations people as a as a distinct, constitutionally protected order of government within Canada and with a full range of government powers. The Report recommended that the provinces be removed from any jurisdiction concerning Aboriginal affairs and that a government structure for First Nations be regarded as the equivalent to a province with financial support from the federal government in an arrangement that would be recognised in the Constitution of Canada. The report's recommendations were not implemented by either the federal government or the provinces.[1]

Penner completed earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta and earned masters degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa. He also pursued post-degree studies at Queen's University and McMaster University.

During the academic year 1987-88, he was a visiting fellow in the School of Political Science at Queen's University. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Transportation (North America).

Penner has been a Member of the Canadian Transportation Agency since 1996. He had previously been a Member of the National Transportation Agency.