Born in Sussex, England, on November 14, 1945, and educated at St Albans School in Hertfordshire, England, and in Alberta and Ontario, Penikett began his Yukon working life as an asbestos mine labourer at Clinton Creek, Yukon, where he became active in his union as a shop steward and chair of the grievance committee.

[1] Penikett became a member of the New Democratic Party's federal council in 1973 and served as executive assistant to Ed Broadbent from 1975 to 1977.

Penikett also brought forward the Yukon Human Rights Act, which banned discrimination on the basis of age, race, gender or sexual orientation.

[17] During the subsequent Charlottetown Accord negotiations, Penikett raised many of the same concerns that he had during Meech,[18] although he ultimately supported the final deal.

[20] On April 25, 1994 Penikett announced his resignation as leader of the Yukon NDP,[21] and was succeeded by Piers McDonald at a party convention in May 1995.

There was an attempt later in 1994 to draft Penikett as a candidate in the federal New Democratic Party's 1995 leadership contest, but he declined to run.

[22] He remained in the legislature as the MLA for Whitehorse West until September 27, 1995, when he resigned to accept a position as a policy advisor in the office of Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow.

From 2001 to 2005, Penikett was a senior fellow on native treaty issues and a visiting professor for the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

[6] Penikett is the author of Reconciliation: First Nations Treaty Making in British Columbia (Douglas & McIntyre, 2006); two television films, The Mad Trapper (BBC TV, London, 1972) and La Patrouille Perdu (ORTF, Paris, 1974); and several plays.