Manitoba’s Inuk speaker won’t run again

George Hickes, the first Inuk to sit in the Manitoba legislature announced Feb. 10 he won’t seek reelection in the next provincial election, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.

Hickes, born on the land in the Kivalliq and raised in Churchill, has been a New Democratic Party MLA for the Winnipeg riding of Point Douglas since 1990 and speaker of the Legislative Assembly since 1999. He won every election with more than 50 per cent of the vote.

Hickes told the Free Press his immediate plans are to reconnect with his family in Nunavut. Hickes is the uncle of Nunaut education minister Hunter Tootoo and NHL player Jordin Tootoo.

“They’re all very close to one another, but not with me,” the Free Press quoted him as saying.