Tununiq candidates want port for Pond Inlet

Sam Sr. Omik (COURTESY PHOTO)

Bandy Kanayuk (COURTESY PHOTO)

David Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq (COURTESY PHOTO)

The candidates running to fill Tununiq’s seat in Nunavut’s legislative assembly can all agree on one thing: Pond Inlet needs its own port.

If that’s the issue on the mind of Pond Inlet’s voters as they head into the Sept. 12 by-election, Tununiq will have a difficult time choosing who to fill its local seat.

Voters in Pond Inlet can head to the polls starting next week to replace their former MLA James Arvaluk, who resigned his seat last May, citing health problems.

Arvaluk had represented Tununiq since 2006, when he won a by-election held following the death of Jobie Nutarak, who had held the seat previously.

Now, four candidates – Sam Sr. Omik, Brandy Kanayuk, David Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq, and Joe Enook are battling to represent the one-community riding.

Sam Sr. Omik

Veteran elected official Sam Sr. Omik says his first task, if elected to the legislative assembly Sept. 12, will be to push for marine infrastructure in the north Baffin community.

“There is absolutely no marine infrastructure in the community and there never has been,” he said in Inuktitut, translated for Nunatsiaq News by Michael Peterloosie. “There have been feasibility studies done, but action plans are always delayed.”

Omik said a port would be of large benefit to the community by making more jobs available to residents.

Omik said a harbour isn’t the only transportation port that needs fixing; Pond Inlet’s airport is located too close to the community.

“When planes arrive on their final approach, they have to fly over houses,” he said. “It makes a lot of noise and (presents) a high risk if there were ever a crash.”

Omik says he will also address Nunavut’s land claims agreement and the many boards and committees that have yet to be formed asthe agreement calls for.

“Committees on the environment, marine life, human resources, social services….all those should have been created already,” he said. “Land claims need to be a bigger focus, [because] Nunavut hasn’t received all of its benefits.

“In order to succeed, Nunavut must get that from the federal government.”

Omik, says he runs for public office “every time the opportunity comes,” was elected mayor of Pond Inlet in the community’s first municipal election in 1982.

He’s served as an elected member of both Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s and currently sits on the Nunavut Water Board.

Brandy Kanayuk

Brandy Kanayuk wants to help alleviate poverty in Nunavut by “improving things from the base.”

For the mother of three, who now lives in Iqaluit, that means better incentives to stay in school, more funding for extra-curricular youth programs and stricter criteria for graduating students from high school.

“We need to push the education department to tighten its passing policy,” she said. “A lot of students are passed (when they haven’t earned it) and in turn, graduates are not qualified to get jobs.”

And the young people that manage to find jobs still struggle to find child care for their children, she said.

“In order to reduce poverty, more people need to work, but there aren’t enough daycare spaces,” she said. “We need to push for more funding for daycare so we can take care of ourselves and our family.”

“A lot of people want to get off social welfare,” she said. “Once the seed blooms, the sky’s the limit.”

Kanayuk also said she’s worried about the rise of elder abuse across the territory, calling for a strategy to help those elders who have nowhere to turn.

Kanayuk moved to Pond Inlet as a young child, where she says her grandparents Jaco and Annie Peterloosie inspired her to be involved in helping others.

There, she sat as a representative with the Baffin Regional Youth Council and the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board.

Kanayuk moved to Iqaluit in 1999 where she now works for the Nunavut department of justice.

But she says she plans to move back to Pond Inlet, if elected.

David Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq

David Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq is running a second time to represent Tununiq – the first time, he lost a 2003 election [to the late Jobie Nutarak] by a mere five votes.

Now, he says “Tununiq [hasn’t been] represented at the legislative assembly for a number of months. We need to catch up to the rest of Nunavut.”

To do that, Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq wants to see the airport in Pond Inlet enlarged to accommodate jets. The proposed Mary River mine stands to greatly benefit the community and Pond Inlet could serve as a “hub” for that mine’s activities, he said.

As mining projects spring up across the territory, Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq wants to ensure that the GN continues talks with the federal government on royalty sharing, similar to its recent agreement with the Northwest Territories to transfer province-like responsibilities for a bigger share of resource taxes to that territory.

But, Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq acknowledged that environmental issues are an ongoing concern for Nunavummiut.

“Inuit hunters are concerned about exploration companies wanting to conduct seismic testing in the Baffin Bay area,” he said. “This would have a negative impact on wildlife and I want to ensure that Inuit concerns are addressed and reach a compromise with these companies.”

Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq, a father of four, is on leave from his position as community liaison officer with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and currently works as an Inuit Impacts Benefits Agreement negotiator.

Qajaakuttuk Qamaniq also enjoys acting: he has travelled extensively with the Tununiq Theatre Group and was featured in the films Glory and Honor, Frost Fire and White Archer.

Joe Enook

Tununiq candidate Joe Enook has not yet returned requests for an interview.

Starting Aug. 28, early voting begins at Pond Inlet’s Qaggivik Centre from noon to 7:00 p.m every day until Sept. 8.

On by-election day, Sept. 12, polls are open in Pond Inlet from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Anyone at least 18-years-old who has resided in Nunavut for the last year, and in Pond Inlet since Aug. 8, is eligible to vote in the by-election.

To confirm you are on the voting list, call Tununiq’s returning office Eepa Ootoovak at (867) 899-8999.