The ITK presidential contest: Jerry Komaksiutiksak

Jerry Komaksiutiksak: “As a 46-year-old, I’ve got the passion for Inuit life.” (PHOTO BY JIM BELL)

Nunatsiaq News will publish candidate profiles this week, in alphabetical order, for the three people contesting the president’s position at Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. ITK members and delegates will choose a winner at a general meeting to be held Sept. 17 in Cambridge Bay.

OTTAWA — Jerry Komaksiutiksak knows he’s not an insider.

But the 46-year-old coach, counselor and former teacher believes it’s time for an outsider to step into the top job at Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami to represent the ordinary Inuk.

“The individuals that I am running against are in the organizations, whether it’s ITK itself or NTI. I’m the person who’s from the outside, the new face, the new voice… As a 46-year-old, I’ve got the passion for Inuit life,” he said.

Komaksiutiksak, who grew up in Chesterfield Inlet, moved to Ottawa about 15 years ago to help care for his ailing father-in-law.

Nunatsiaq News interviewed him this past weekend inside a Starbucks outlet near his home in the west Ottawa suburb of Bell’s Corners.

An a Nunavut Teacher Education Program graduate, Komaksiutiksak taught school for seven years — two years in Whale Cove, three years in Rankin Inlet and two years at Nunavut Sivuniksavut.

He has also worked as a reservation agent for First Air and Canadian North, and now works at the Larga Baffin patient home, as well as doing casual work for the Mamisarvik healing centre.

In addition, Komaksiutiksak worked for the Nunavut Trust, the body that manages and invests the compensation fund that Ottawa paid Inuit under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

He said that, along with his other experiences, makes him a suitable candidate.

“I’m fluent in Inuktitut. I speak, write and read in both Inuktitut and English,” he said.

To campaign among the small group of people who will choose an ITK president in Cambridge Bay next month, he said he’ll make them aware of his ideas

“I would bring up the Inuit issues and suggest solutions, so that they’re aware that I’ve got local knowledge and I’ve got the experience to deal with Inuit life,” he said.

Also, a fresh face would be capable of providing fresh ideas, he said.

“When you’re around the same table with the same individuals, the same ideas keep coming up. With a new person in place, for example, myself… I strongly believe having a new person in place would help develop more approaches, new ideas.”

As for ITK’s reach, he said that to become an authentic national Inuit organization, it must also represent Inuit who live in southern Canada.

“ITK says that is a national Inuit organization. In a national approach, an Inuk is an Inuk whether they live in Hopedale, Iqaluit, Inuvik, Inukjuak, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg. Then they would truly be a national Inuit organization,” he said.

He is also a strong advocate for more programs to help Inuit cope with the Arctic’s well-known social issues.

“The simplicity of Inuit life in the small communities is seriously affected by complex issues,” he said.

“We’ve got high suicide rates, high family violence, a shortage of housing, food insecurity. I can see ITK working on all to help come up with the right policies to help Inuit.”

He added that Aboriginal people, including Inuit, are over-represented in the federal correctional system.

“We should be truly looking into that, into federal programming for First Nations, Métis and Inuit,” Komaksiutiksak said.

“Are they Inuit over-represented? Or are they misrepresented? We have to truly answer that question and come up with the right policy,” he said.

On environmental and wildlife issues, Komaksiutiksak said Inuit should be proud of how well they have conserved wildlife and taken care of the environment.

“When you look at what Inuit have done to sustain certain things in life, for example, coming up with our own polar bear quotas, narwhal quotas. We are a leading example of taking care of the environment, to preserve and protect wild animals, even though we hunt them,” he said.

Another issue that Komaksiutiksak, a former teacher, feels passionately about is Inuit education.

For example, he points to “national political leaders” in the current federal election campaign who have made promises to put more funding into First Nations education but neglect to mention Inuit.

That’s a likely reference to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s recent promise to spend, if he’s elected, $2.6 billion more on First Nations education.

“The inconsistency is an issue, because Inuit are a distinct culture,” he said

“We need the right funding for Inuit, in higher education, to pick up skills and training, which I believe will lead to positive mental wellness.”

As for language, Komaksiutiksak “strongly believes” that an ITK president should be able to communicate in the Inuit language.

“Our language is part of our culture, our heritage. It is important. It is our first language,” he said.

And he said he supports the ITK language summit and the idea of a common standard for written Inuktitut.

Although he’s a working man, Komaksiutiksak has found time for years to coach team sports, which he believes is an important character-builder for youth.

“I’ve coached team sports since Grade 11, ice hockey for 10 years, competitive soccer for 10 years. You have to balance the wants and needs of parents and kids, and balance that with building character.”

And sometimes that means saying that winning isn’t everything. It’s character building that matters.

“Sometimes I have to explain to the parents, yes we won, but we did not build character.”

ITK members and appointed delegates will choose a president Sept. 17 at a general meeting to be held in Cambridge Bay.

The other candidates are:

Terry Audla, whose profile is available here.

Natan Obed, whose profile is available here.