Three hopefuls vie for Iqaluit mayor job, nine for city council

Three people will vie for the Iqaluit mayor’s job and nine for city council, in a municipal election to be held Oct. 19. (FILE PHOTO)

(Update 9:15 a.m., Sept. 15)

The full list of candidates in the upcoming Iqaluit municipal election has been made public following the close of nominations at the city’s 3 p.m. Sept 14. deadline.

Public information about the administration of the election is difficult to find. Most of it appears to be located at this Facebook page, called IQVotes.

There is also some information at this website.

Former mayor Madeleine Redfern, who was elected mayor in a by-election in 2010 and held the office until after the 2012 municipal election, which she did not contest, will be looking to unseat incumbent mayor Mary Wilman.

Noah Papatsie, currently serving as a city councillor, has also put his name forward for the mayor’s job.

Papatsie ran for mayor in the Oct. 15, 2012 election, finishing third with 184 votes behind John Graham (953) and Al Hayward (204.)

The following year, Papatsie gained a seat on council in a by-election held Oct. 28, 2013.

This will be Wilman’s first election campaign for mayor

Elected as a city councillor, she was appointed mayor in November 2014 after Graham resigned from the job earlier that year.

Wilman was last elected to council in the October 2012 election, when she finished at the top of the list with 1,070 votes.

Only nine candidates will seek the eight expiring council seats. They include incumbent councillors Terry Dobbin, Romeyn Stevenson, Joanasie Akumalik and Simon Nattaq.

New candidates Kuthula Matshazi, Megan Pizzo-Lyall, Jason Rochon, Lynda Mary Gunn and Gideonie Joamie will also seek council seats.

Lynda Mary Gunn served as an Iqaluit municipal councillor in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and has also served as chief executive officer of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities.

Many of the incumbent city councillors, as well as the mayor, had been tight-lipped about whether they would run again — choosing not to disclose their intention to the public until the nomination period ended.

Councillor Kenny Bell and Stephen Mansell announced in a city council meeting Aug. 25 they will not seek re-election.

The municipal election will take place Oct. 19, the same day as the federal election. Voters will cast ballots that day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Anglican Parish Hall in Iqaluit and Abe Okpik Hall in Apex.

However, it appears as if positions on two of Iqaluit’s school committees will be decided not by election, but by acclamation.

Six seats on the seven-member Iqaluit District Education Authority are vacant, having expired this year.

However, only two people are nominated for the Iqaluit DEA: Sherene Gissing and Alden Williams.

If no one objects to their candidacy by Sept. 17, it’s likely that Gissing and Williams will be declared elected.

Right now, it’s not clear how the other four vacant seats on the Iqaluit DEA will be filled, but the nomination period has been extended by one week, to 3 p.m., Sept. 21.

Three seats on the Commission scolaire francophone du Nunavut are also vacant this year. But only one candidate, Daniel Hillman, is nominated. If no one objects to his candidacy by Sept. 17, Hillman will be declared elected.

For the other two vacant seats on the CSFN, the nomination period has been extended by one week, to 3 p.m., Sept. 21.

However, it does appear as if an election will be held for the Apex, or Niaqunnguuq, District Education Authority, where four candidates are seeking three seats.

The four candidates for the Apex DEA are: Anne Crawford, Kerry McCluskey, Joseph Murdoch-Flowers and Corenna Nuyalia.

One election day, each elector may cast votes for between one and eight city council candidates. The top eight candidates will be declared elected.

For the Apex DEA election, each eligible Apex elector may cast votes for between one and three DEA candidates. The top three candidates will be declared elected.

An earlier version of this story, based on old information from the chief returning officer, reported that six seats on the CSFN were up for election. We have received new information that only three seats are available, which means that only two seats are available on the CFSN during the one-week extension of the nomination period.

We have replaced the embedded Scribd document below with a new version that contains the correct information.

List of Candidates 2015 Municipal Elections by NunatsiaqNews