Patricia (Pat) McMahon, who was mayor of Yellowknife during one of its most dramatic times in its history, died Monday morning. She was 64.

Pat McMahon, seen in this 1994 CBC-TV interview, was mayor of Yellowknife during the infamous Giant Mine strike. (CBC)McMahon grew up in Canada's North and had lived in Yellowknife since 1968. She served as an alderman for seven years before being elected mayor of the Northwest Territories capital from 1987 to 1994.

McMahon spoke for the city during the national controversy surrounding the Giant Mine strike of the early 1990s, including the infamous 1992 bombing that killed nine replacement miners.

Blake Lyons, who was a city councillor during McMahon's tenure as mayor, remembered her as a visionary leader who treated everyone equally.

"She treated everybody the same. It didn't matter who you were," Lyons told CBC News on Monday.

"I remember in '94 the Queen came to Yellowknife. After the official business, there was a function — just a private function — and the Queen was admiring a ring on Pat's finger and saying, 'That's quite a nice ring you have there.' And Pat peeked at the Queen's fingers and said, 'That's kind of a nice bauble you've got there as well.' That was Pat."

Yellowknifers have McMahon to thank for the Frame Lake Trail, a nine-kilometre-long nature trail around the city that is popular among residents and tourists alike, Lyons said.

He called the trail a "wonderful legacy" left behind by the former mayor.

McMahon made a bid for territorial politics in 1999. However, she was edged out by Brendan Bell by a 12-vote margin in the Yellowknife South district.

Her exact cause of death is still unknown, but friends told CBC News they believe it was related to a long-term illness.