I’ll be back: Nunavut MLAs tout achievements ahead of fall election

Final countdown: Nunavut MLAs and government ministers spent hours Sept. 19 touting their accomplishments and thanking their colleagues and constituents. Most plan to run again for office in the Oct. 30 territorial election. Expect Elections Nunavut to issue the writ for that election on Monday, Sept. 25. Stay tuned to nunatsiaqonline.ca for upcoming election details, candidate campaigns and riding profiles. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

If there was any doubt that Nunavut was entering another territorial election cycle, it was put to rest on the last day of Nunavut’s fourth legislative assembly as MLAs made a hard sell during three hours of speeches summarizing their accomplishments at the Nunavut Legislative Assembly in Iqaluit.

So what’s the consensus? Most members agreed on Sept. 19, “There’s still work to be done.”

In total, 11 of 13 regular MLAs announced they would seek re-election, when Nunavummiut head to the polls, Oct. 30.

Only Aivilik MLA Steve Mapsalak said he would not run; Gjoa Haven MLA Tony Akoak didn’t indicate either way.

“I wish the best to the incoming and the people who will be running,” Mapsalak told MLAs.

Among the regular members seeking re-election is 78-year-old Quttiktuq MLA Isaac Shooyook who said he decided to run again after speaking with his family.

“Even though I might not get elected, I will run again, and I really want to get elected because I did not finish my work. I will try again. I will run again,” Shooyook said, as he thanked Nunavut Justice Minister Keith Peterson for including more Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit programs for prison inmates.

“I know I’m capable and I’m physically able to do the work.”

Another strong advocate of IQ in the legislature, South Baffin MLA David Joanasie, said in his member’s statement that Shooyook’s staged walk-out from the legislature in May 2015 was “an important event.”

Shooyook left the assembly in protest after a series of non-answers from Culture and Heritage Minister George Kuksuk on the use of Inuit traditional knowledge in government policies.

Both Joanasie and Netsilik MLA Emiliano Qirngnuq acknowledged hardships faced by their respective constituents in Cape Dorset and Kugaaruk, stemming from the destruction of local schools.

“We still feel this loss,” Joanasie said on the destruction of the Peter Pitseolak High School in his home town of Cape Dorset.

Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna did not say during his final statement in the house if he would seek re-election.

Arviat South MLA Joe Savikataaq, who took on multiple government files mid-term in 2015, announced, when recognizing visitors to the gallery, that he will run for office again in October.

The ministers for culture and heritage, family services, and health, George Kuksuk, Johnny Mike and George Hickes, all said a day earlier, on Sept. 18, that they would seek re-election in their respective communities of Arviat, Pangnirtung and Iqaluit.

Education Minister Paul Quassa said Sept. 19 that he too will run again in the Aggu constituency of Igloolik.

Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu MLA Pat Angnakak said her first term as a Nunavut MLA was one of the “most important responsibilities” of her life, and credited the territory’s non-partisan system of government for its ability to debate issues.

Incoming MLAs, she said, “must not be afraid to speak honestly or forcefully, regardless of how uncomfortable the issue might be.”

Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson, who was a frequent target of Angnakak during question period, added “it hasn’t always been fun times, but we’ve kept the government moving.”

Peterson did not indicate if he will seek re election, but if he does—and wins—he will have a chance to eclipse Hunter Tootoo as the longest consecutively serving MLA in Nunavut history in 2019.

Iqaluit-Sinaa MLA Paul Okalik currently holds the record for the most time served, non-consecutively, as an MLA in Nunavut.

In his final address to the legislature, Taptuna thanked every MLA for their hard work over his four-year term as Nunavut’s leader.

“At times we don’t see eye to eye, but for the most part, the name of the game is to make sure we do the best things for Nunavummiut,” he said.

Education, Taptuna said in his closing remark, is the “key to success in life,” and “there is nothing wrong with succeeding in both the traditional way and modern way of life.”

On Sept. 14,Quassa failed in a last ditch effort to move his government’s controversial Bill 37—amending the Education Act and Inuit Language Protection Act—into the assembly’s committee of the whole because regular MLAs voted unanimously against it

Quassa later tabled a letter he had written to the chair of the standing committee on legislation, Rankin Inlet North-Chesterfield Inlet South MLA Tom Sammurtok, in August, where he offered to make significant changes to the Education Act amendments.