Round two of Kugluktuk’s municipal election set for Monday

Residents in Kugluktuk have Nunavut’s languages commissioner, Helen Klengenberg, to thank for an upcoming hamlet election in which materials are printed in Inuinnaqtun. (FILE PHOTO)

Monday will see round two of Kugluktuk’s municipal election.

While hamlet elections took place across Nunavut in December, voting in the western Nunavut community came to a standstill Dec. 11, when Nunavut’s languages commissioner found Kugluktuk’s English-only election materials to be in contravention of the territory’s official languages act.

The hamlet senior administrative officer, Don LeBlanc, said new materials, printed in the community language of Inuinnaqtun, are ready to go and the rescheduled election will take place on March 5 at the hamlet complex.

“It’s coming along good. The election is on Monday,” he said. “Hopefully all will work out well for the hamlet.”

The election halt and date change meant that community members running in the election had to resubmit nomination papers, and that new candidates could also put their names in for the election.

This led to a few changes on the candidate roster.

The candidates now running for mayor include incumbent mayor Ryan Nivingalok, as well as Philip Evaglok and Valerie Miyok.

The following residents are running for a spot on council:

• Miranda Atatahak

• Robert Pihoak Ayalik

• Douglas Klengenberg

• Nadene McMenemy

• Danny Zita

• Larry Adjun

The languages commissioner, Helen Klengenberg, is from Kugluktuk. She said more than 60 per cent of residents in the community identify Inuinnaqtun as their first language.