Makivik candidate promises to address youth concerns

David Dupuis, a well-known hockey player originally from Kuujjuaq, is running to serve as Makivik Corp.’s new treasurer. (HANDOUT PHOTO)

David “Tiivi” Dupuis wants to serve as Makivik Corp.’s new treasurer and he promises to be a “present” and “active” leader if elected later this month.

The well-known Kuujjuaq hockey player, now a Montreal-based corrections worker, is challenging Makivik’s incumbent treasurer Andy Pirti in a two-way race Jan. 19.

Dupuis doesn’t come to the ballot with past political experience. “[But] I’ll be a present and active listener and doer,” said the 26-year-old.

Dupuis, born and raised in Kuujjuaq, moved south to Montreal in 2003 and later to New York state to play hockey at Skidmore College, where he graduated with a degree in business and management.

For the last two years, however, Dupuis has facilitated programming for Inuit inmates through Correctional Services Canada at its federal training centre in Laval.

Dupuis’ work in corrections has been a sharp reminder of what he calls the “identity crisis” many Nunavimmiut face as they work to overcome generational trauma and the rapid pace of change in Nunavik’s communities.

“The way to come out of the struggles we’re facing is through better collaboration,” he said. “We need to be unified and I don’t see that happening at the moment.”

That’s what Dupuis hopes to accomplish as an executive at Makivik: to help create a better support network for Nunavimmiut pursuing higher education and employment and to help preserve and promote Inuit language and culture.

Here are some of Dupuis’ plans, if elected:

• Makivik has a role to play in supporting Nunavimmiut both in training or employed Inuit who would like to move into more senior roles, Dupuis said. He wants to develop better collaboration with the Kativik School Board to offer paid summer internships and stronger support for students studying outside the region, particularly Inuit youth;

• Makivik’s subsidiaires and Inuit-owned businesss in general would benefit from better advocacy on its behalf including organizational support and market research, he said. Dupuis would like to see registered Nunavik companies competing (and being awarded) government contracts;

• Makivik needs to promote financial transparency. “I’d really like to give continuous updates on what’s happening,” he said. “A lot of people complain they don’t see the money coming back to us”; and,

• Makivik has a role to play in promoting Inuit language and culture, and if elected, commits to advocating for better investment in Avataq and the region’s other guardians of culture.

As a university student, Dupuis worked as a summer intern at Makivik on a project to promote Inuit-owned businesses, an experience which he said he found rewarding and educational.

But this is his first run at an elected position at Makivik or any organization in the region.

“It was always in my plans,” Dupuis said of his candidacy. “[Nunavimmiut] are living challenges. For them to see the future only holds a struggle—that’s problematic for me. That’s why I’m running.”

You can read a profile on Makivik’s incumbent treasurer Andy Pirti, also running in this election, here.

Nunavik Inuit will cast their ballots Jan. 19. Polls will remain open in Northern Village offices across Nunavik and at Makivik’s Montreal office between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Beneficiaries can also vote in advance polls Jan. 12 at the same locations between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.