Career
Elected as "Government Leader", Braden would retroactively become the second Premier of the Northwest Territories, after a motion was passed in 1994 to change the official title. Appointed to the position of Deputy Minister for the Northwest Territories, Braden worked from Ottawa, Ontario with Walter Slipchenko (Inter-governmental Policy Analyst). Braden was first elected to the NWT Legislative Assembly in 1979.
At that time the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories, appointed by the Government of Canada, was also the head of the Government of the NWT. In 1980, for the first time, the Legislative Assembly elected the Government Leader, selecting Braden, who served until 1984.
Braden was the second person to hold the title as Frederick Haultain had been appointed to the position in 1897. Some of the changes implemented by Braden allowed for additional representation in the legislative council, the removal of the appointed commissioner and deputy commissioner from the executive council and for the allowance of control of territorial affairs to elected members.
In 2009, Braden accepted the position of Policy Analyst for Dennis Patterson, who was, earlier the same year, appointed to the Canadian Senate for Nunavut.
