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Judy Gingell was born in the Yukon, on her grandfather Billy Smith's trapline, on November 26, 1946. Her parents were Johnny Smith (d. 2010) and Annie (née Fred) Smith (1925-2020) and Judy is one of 13 children. She attended Selkirk Street School and the Yukon Vocational School in Whitehorse. She is married to Don Gingell and they have two children, Rick and Tina.
In 1969 Judy Gingell was the Band Manager of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation, with the largest band membership in the Yukon, and was the Founding Director of the Yukon Indian Brotherhood. She also served on the Executive of the Yukon Indian Women's Association and was the Founding Director of Northern Native Broadcasting in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1973 she travelled to Ottawa with a team of leaders to present a document entitled "Together Today for our Children Tomorrow" to Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. This document launched the most comprehensive land claims negotiations in the Yukon and under her leadership the Umbrella Final Agreement and Self-Government Agreements were legislated in 1993 for all Yukon First Nations and became law in February 1995. From 1980 to 1989 she was the President of Yukon Indian Development Corporation and Chairperson of the Council for Yukon Indians (CYI) from 1989 to 1995. On June the 12th, 1995 Judy Gingell was appointed the first aboriginal Commissioner of the Yukon.
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