Parliamentary Relatives: The Langs of Yukon, Alberta and Ontario.

• Author: Stos, Will

Twin brothers Archibald Donald Lang and Hector Daniel Lang, known as Archie and Dan, were wellknown fixtures of Yukon territorial politics for decades. And, when Dan made the switch to federal politics upon his appointment to the Senate in 2009, he was not the first member of his family to serve in the Upper Chamber. In fact, he wasn't even the first member of his family who bore the name Daniel Lang to serve as a senator. The twins, their grandfather, their great uncle, and their first cousin once removed, were part of a family with a long history of public service. As Dan notes, "Public affairs was always the first topic discussed at the dinner table."

Members of the family had served at the municipal level of government prior to Malcolm Lang's election to the Ontario Assembly in 1914. A prospector prior to his time in politics, as a Liberal MPP for Cochrane, he served on numerous standing committees during three consecutive terms. Although an initial attempt to win election as a Labour candidate for Timisakaming South in 1925 proved unsuccessful, in 1926 he was elected with the tacit support of local Liberais. Generally supporting Prime Minister Mackenzie King's government, he ran as a Liberal-Labour candidate in 1930 but was defeated.

A few provinces to the west, Malcom's brother Hector joined him as a parliamentarian in 1928 after winning a by-election for the Liberal Party of Alberta in the Medicine Hat constituency. Hector won re-election in 1930, but was defeated in 1935 as the Social Credit Party swept to power. Four years later he began a lengthy tenure as the city's mayor, holding office for all but two years between 1939 AND 1950.

Hector's son (also named Hector) and his wife Margaret (Campbell) Lang were living near Dawson Creek, British Columbia, when Archie and Dan were born in 1948. A carpenter by trade, their father found employment working on the fish ladder in Whitehorse 10 years later. Hector, his wife, the twin boys and their older sisters initially all lived together in a 14-foot trailer.

After graduating from high school, Archie worked as a carpenter for several years before trying his hand at entrepreneurship. Following stints as a restaurateur, store owner and innkeeper, at age 25 he purchased the Watson Lake Hotel. For a quarter of a century Archie worked to make "the Watson" an institution in southeast Yukon. Moving to back to Whitehorse in 1994, Archie operated the Super A grocery stores and the Capital Hotel, as...