Five vie for VP jobs at Nunavik’s birthright organization

George (Jaji) Peters has spent more than a decade at the helm of Kuujjuaq’s Nayumivik Landholding Corp. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

“I feel Makivik should be responsible to protect [Nunavik’s] offshore land claim agreement,” said candidate Donald Watt. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

Michael Gordon is hoping to serve a fourth term as vice-president at Makivik Corp. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

Markusi Qisiiq, currently a director at the KRG’s department of renewable resources, is running for Makivik’s executive for the first time. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

Andy Moorhouse is hoping to switch gears, from Makivik’s corporate secretary to its VP economic development. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

(Updated Jan. 18)

On Jan. 21, Nunavik Inuit will choose a corporate secretary and vice president of economic development for Makivik Corp., with five Nunavimmiut running for each position.

Nunatsiaq News reached out to all five VP candidates so they can tell readers what they intend to bring to the economic development vice president’s job, a position that oversees programs and projects related to economic development in Nunavik and the corporation’s business activities.

Makivik’s current VP of economic development, Michael Gordon, is seeking re-election this year.

Gordon, from Kuujjuaq, is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal. A former mayor of Kuujjuaq from 1997 to 2005, Gordon was first elected to Makivik’s executive in 2007. If re-elected Jan. 21, Gordon will serve a fourth term as VP.

The top three issues Gordon said he plans to address, if re-elected, include:

• Makivik executive salaries: These have risen above those paid at other Nunavik organizations, Gordon said. Makivik salaries should be in line with similar positions around the region. “I believe it is an honour to serve your people,” he said.

• a review of what an Inuit business is, to prevent non-Inuit from taking advantage of the status.

“This has become more noticeable in the past couple of years,” he said. “We have to encourage more legitimate Inuit enterprises without damaging the fledgling ones.”

At the same time, Gordon said there should be less emphasis on ownership, and more focus on creating jobs for Inuit in the region.

• housing: Too many families are living in overcrowded homes and struggling with food insecurity. Makivik has had some success with the federal government on this file, Gordon said, but more must be done. The organization should foster traditional country food and non-traditional agro-food activities in the communities, he said.

Gordon said Makivik has taken a lead in promoting Parnasimautik, Nunavik’s blueprint for future development, by working alongside regional and community organizations.

“I am ready for new daily challenges,” Gordon said about his re-election bid. “I don’t need to rely on Qallunaat advisors to do the work; at the same time [I’m] able to work with those from the South.”

Andy Moorhouse resigned his position of corporate secretary last month, which he held since 2010, to run for VP of economic development at Nunavik’s birthright organization.

Moorhouse began his career in politics at a young age; at 24, he was elected mayor of his hometown, Inukjuak, and later served as president of Saputiit Nunavik Youth Association.

As corporate secretary he also served as chairman of the Makivik-owned Air Inuit’s board of directors.

The top three issues which Moorhouse said he plans to address, if elected, include:

• the creation of a Makivik-endorsed Inuit business directory, to help promote the services of regional enterprises. Moorhouse said he’d commit to having a draft of the directory completed within his first three months of his mandate, if elected, and updated annually;

• providing more support to Makivik’s subsidiaries, which could use any support they can get, Moorhouse said. “With programs and services available to small businesses, this would allow Inuit business to be able to compete better in the competition market, and would allow new businesses to be supported as it starts off,” Moorhouse said; and,

• reviews of Inuit businesses that have ceased operations to determine why these failed, and use that information to develop action plans to help other enterprises succeed.

Moving forward, Moorhouse said Nunavik’s Parnasimautik document spells out the needs of each community in the region.

“It is now the responsibility of each organization along with Makivik to lobby and secure the needs of Nunavik communities,” he said.

“I know I can make a difference, from what we have had in the last years, to promote and develop economic development in the region.”

Markusi Qisiiq, originally from Kangiqsujuaq, is now based in Kuujjuaq where he serves as director to the Kativik Regional Government’s department of Renewable Resources, Environment, Lands and Parks.

Qisiiq has held a number of position, from president of the Nunarturlik Landholding Corp. to director of the Pingualuit provincial park.

Qisiiq, a first-time candidate for Makivik, said that, if elected, he would work for:

• recognition of the traditional Inuit economy, such as hunting, fishing, sewing and carving, by governments;

• an economic development action plan, which could help inform the development of Nunavik’s traditional and non-traditional economy; and,

• revisions to the Hunter Support Program in Nunavik to deliver more benefits to hunters and fishermen.

“To me, no development will be sustainable if it doesn’t benefit from local ideas, support and dynamism,” Qisiiq said. “I believe that people working towards a better economy for Nunavik should take into account our values and our strengths.”

Makivik also needs to work with both the mining sector and governments to deliver more and better training in the region’s communities, he said.

‘We need to get better jobs in the mining sector, and be fairly paid for what we accomplish,” said Qisiiq, a former employee at Nunavik’s Raglan nickel mine.

Qisiiq also called Nunavik’s housing shortage an opportunity to build an economic development project, by and for Nunavimmiut.

“We all know that our lack of housing is a source of multiple social problems,” he said. “I would involve Inuit in the improvement of housing design and conditions and make sure that we have as many Inuit workers on site as possible.”

Donald Edward Watt, from Kuujjuaq, is currently based in Montreal.

Watt worked for Makivik Corp. in various departments over fourteen years. He has served as a Makivik representative on the Nunavut Planning Commission and Nunavut Impact Review Board.

Watt also took part in Makivik’s offshore negotiation team in the early 2000s.

If elected, he hopes to focus on:

• Quebec’s request to extend its northern border: “I feel Makivik should be responsible to protect [Nunavik’s] offshore land claim agreement,” Watt said. “Mere consultation is not enough and if the issues of the jurisdictions may arise, it can totally dismantle the agreement.”

Watt said Makivik must also sit down with the province to discuss the issue of priority rights included in the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement that are not being respected;

• Support for Nunavimmiut business owners: Watt said non-Inuit businesses are still faring better than Inuit-owned ones in the region. He wants Inuit entrepreneurs to have access to legal assistance through Makivik;

• New funding sources: As VP economic development, Watt said he’ll look for new ways for the birthright organization to make money. But, he adds “I will respect Nunavik Inuit rather than myself when it comes to making decisions.”

George (Jaji) Peters is from Kuujjuaq, where he’s served as both president and vice-president to the local Nayumivik Landholding Corp. for more than a decade.

If elected as vice-president, Peters wants to strengthen the region’s business model and:

• Promote local Inuit business: that includes the traditional Inuit economy and also social economy in Nunavik, through the sale of items like handmade crafts and locally-tanned pelts.

Makivik should also work with landholding corporations to create more Inuit business opportunities without the region’s mining sector.

“Keep the economy in the region,” Peters said. “We must stress this to become self-reliant in the future;”

• Use Parnasimautik as a tool to shape Nunavik’s future: through his role with Kuujjuaq’s landholding corp., Peters took part in the 2013 Parnasimautik consultations. “I believe in this process to take place and prepare our people’s wishes for their well-being, and the organizations for our future generations to come,” he said, “…to have security and have control of whatever impacts that may lay on our lands;”

• A bigger stake in the mining industry: Peters wants to see stronger Impact Benefits Agreements and more ownership within explorations projects currently underway in Nunavik. “I feel that we are going to be impacted the most by development and think that we as Inuit have to have full ownership of business to lessen the impact,” he said.

Polling stations will be set up in each community’s Northern Village office Jan. 21 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Nunavik Inuit in Montreal can also vote at Makivik’s Ville St-Laurent office during those same hours.