Political newcomer wants to help Nunavut residents get back to the classroom

A former mayor of Arviat and past chair of Sakku Investments Corp., George Kuksuk was first elected to Nunavut’s legislative assembly in 2013. Kuksuk did not make himself available for an interview by publication time. (FILE PHOTO)

“Our problems are right at our front door,” says Arviat North-Whale Cove candidate John Main. “And I want to be part of a team that helps make change.” (HANDOUT PHOTO)

One of the first jobs John Main ever had was as a news reporter; over a decade ago, he worked for CBC covering Nunavut’s legislature from Iqaluit.

Now he wants another job at the legislature—as MLA for Arviat North-Whale Cove.

Main is making his first run for MLA in his home riding against incumbent George Kuksuk, who serves as minister of culture and heritage and minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corp. in Premier Peter Taptuna’s government.

“Arviat’s my home,” Main said. “It’s where I’m most comfortable. And probably like a lot of other candidates out there, I want to help my community and to help Whale Cove.”

Main finished high school in Arviat and studied economics at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick.

He’s since worked in economic development and recreation at the Hamlet of Arviat—where he helped launch the diamond drillers program—as well as with the Government of Nunavut’s economic development and transportation department.

Main also spent three years in Cambridge Bay, the hometown of his wife Amanda, where he worked in business development for the Kitikmeot Inuit Association.

Now back in Arviat, Main has a young family and works as a consultant specializing in economic development and funding proposals. The only non-Inuk candidate running in the Kivalliq region, Main is fluent in English and Inuktitut.

“Our problems are right at our front door,” he said. “And I want to be part of a team that helps make change.”

Main highlighted his priorities, if elected MLA Oct. 30:

• Health care:

The Government of Nunavut must follow up an Auditor General’s report that highlighted major gaps in the capacity, training and safety of professionals working within Nunavut’s health care network.

“We need to staff our health centres and fill those vacant positions more quickly,” Main said, proposing that the health department look at moving casual and part-time staff into permanent and full-time jobs, when possible.

Main said Nunavummiut patients continue to deal with headaches around medical travel, while constituents he has spoken to would like to see an addictions and rehabilitation centre open closer to home.

“We need to be more accountable to the people who are out there receiving these services,” he said. “There’s a lack of follow-up on patient complaints.”

• Education:

“We have a huge problem with school attendance,” Main said. “The kids have to be in school.”

Main isn’t suggesting the Government of Nunavut force school on children but rather, the community needs to be empowered to help.

That could be through support such as breakfast and lunch programs offered at the community’s three schools, Main said; Arviat could also benefit from anti-bullying initiatives to help students feel safe and welcome in the classroom.

• Economic development and jobs:

“People want to work, but they don’t have the skills they need,” Main said. “That’s what I’m hearing from people on the street and on Facebook.”

Part of the issue ties into education, he noted.

Main believes the GN can help support communities to develop and run these programs, building on the trades and mining skills programs the hamlet of Arviat has already offered in the past.

Driving around Whale Cove recently, Main noticed broken windows at some homes that had only been temporarily repaired.

“You have to order [replacements] from down south,” he said. “But we could get that equipment and train people to build them here. Let’s give people the skills they need.”

Education and training initiatives cost money, he said, so how to pay for it?

Main proposed the GN conduct a cost-savings initiative to find inefficiencies in departmental expense or misallocated funding.

Arviat North-Whale Cove’s incumbent MLA George Kuksuk—and the only other candidate running in the riding—didn’t respond to Nunatsiaq News’s requests for an interview.

A former mayor of Arviat and past chair of Sakku Investments Corp., Kuksuk was first elected as MLA in 2013.

He has served as minister of economic development and transportation, culture and heritage and minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corp. in Taptuna’s government.

Nunavut’s election is Oct. 30. Visit Elections Nunavut’s website to find out where and how to vote that day or in advance polls, which remain open until Oct. 26.