After more than eight years in the Red Chamber, the Yukon Senator Dan Lang is retiring.

“After 27 years in public life, 19 as a member of the legislative assembly of Yukon and eight and a half years in the Senate of Canada, I am looking forward to returning to Yukon to spend more time with my wife and family,” the Conservative senator said in an emailed statement this morning.

According to the Constitution Act, Lang, 69, is not required to retire for another six years.

Lang was appointed to the Senate in 2009 by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, upon the recommendation of then-Yukon premier Dennis Fentie.

As a senator, he chaired the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence.

Under Lang’s chairmanship, the committee published a number of reports, including a 2013 examination of sexual harassment and bullying inside the RCMP, and studies of the Canada Border Services Agency, ballistic missile defence and the terrorism threat to Canada.

Lang was also a member of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources, and the Sub-Committee on Veterans Affairs.

One of Lang’s first initiatives as a senator was to sponsor the repeal of the long gun registry, which was “so detested in rural and Northern Canada,” he said in a speech to the members of the Red Chamber today.

He also helped advance Yukon projects, such as the expansion of the Mayo power plant, the construction of cultural centres in Haines Junction, Carcross and Whitehorse, and housing and water treatment plant developments across the territory. He also pushed for the expansion of Yukon College.

“These are just a few of the projects that the federal government assisted in over the past eight and a half years,” said Lang.

The announcement of Lang’s retirement comes two months after the CBC reported the senator and his policy advisor, Naresh Raghubeer, faced allegations of workplace harassment.

Both Lang and Raghbeer vigorously denied the allegations, and each said he was not under review by Senate human resources.

Raghubeer called the allegations false and libilous in an interview with the Star, and said the CBC report was “malicious.”

Senate spokesperson Jacqui Delaney confirmed to the Star in April that Lang’s office received a disbursement of $28,000 for legal fees during the Yukon senator’s tenure, but would not say what the money was for.

Born in Dawson Creek, B.C., Lang moved with his family to Whitehorse while he was in grade school.

Lang kicked off a lengthy political career at age 26, when, in 1974, he was elected to the Yukon legislative assembly as the MLA for Porter Creek.

He would go on to serve five consecutive terms as a Conservative and Yukon Party MLA.

After 18 years in elected office, Lang took a hiatus from politics, during which time he worked as a real estate associate in Whitehorse.

While working in Ottawa, Lang was a champion of Yukon artists, of which his wife, Valerie Hodgson, is one.

“I have also enjoyed promoting Yukon in Ottawa through my Yukon Office, and the ‘art walk’ I take most visitors on in my office, to showcase Yukon artists, including Ted Harrison, whose work hangs in the Senate entrance... Jim Robb, Mary Ceasar and various First Nations works,” said Lang in his Senate speech today.

Yukon Liberal MP Larry Bagnell shares Lang’s appreciation of Yukon art.

“We’re both very supportive of Yukon artwork, trying to make sure that that gets known in Ottawa,” said Bagnell this afternoon.

“We’ve both done initiatives on that because sometimes it’s hard to make sure Ottawa respects Yukon artwork and includes it in collections.”

Bagnell congratulated Lang on his more than two decades of public service, and said he can relate to Lang’s desire for more time with his family.

“He said he wants to spend more time with his kids and his grandkids and I can certainly empathize with that,” said Bagnell.

“The hardest thing about my job is leaving my kids every Sunday to go to Ottawa.”

Though the two Yukon politicians represent different parties, Bagnell said he and Lang worked well together.

They both pressed for an enhanced military presence in the North, and are both supporters of the Northern Rangers, said Bagnell.

“There’s over 400 legislators in Ottawa and there’s only two Yukoners, so we need to speak strongly and together, if we can, to make sure they hear what we have to say,” he said.

In his retirement address, Lang paid tribute to Senate and committee staff – translators, technicians and pages, and his office staff, including Raghubeer, and his executive assistant, Jennifer MacIver.

“I also want to thank my best friend and my wife Valerie – who accompanied me on this journey and gave me so much support,” said Lang.

“Val and I are looking forward to going home to Yukon so that we can spend more time with our children and grandchildren.”

Lang has four children and eight grandchildren, and currently lives with Hodgson in Whitehorse