In 1940, he began to work for the MacMillan lumber company, then left to join the Royal Canadian Navy between 1942 and 1945, where he took part in the Arctic convoys of World War II.
[4] In 1964, the Canadian federal government appointed Hodgson to the 5th Northwest Territories Legislative Council, and served as deputy commissioner from 1965-67.
When rapid changes in socio-economic conditions threatened the continuity of Inuit oral history, Commissioner Hodgson urged the taping of elders' stories.
[3] Hodgson was one of the founders of the Arctic Winter Games - which began in Yellowknife in 1970 for athletes from Alaska, Yukon, and the NWT – and which now also include Greenland, parts of Arctic Russia, as well as Northern Alberta and Nunavik (Northern Quebec), and the new territory Nunavut which was formed from NWT in 1999.
The Hodgson Trophy was created and awarded beginning in 1978 for fair play and team spirit during the Arctic Winter Games.