An Inuk senator? Sure, but let’s have youth, too
Nunavut’s retiring Sen. Dennis Patterson says his replacement must be Inuk, but he or she should also be avant garde, not old guard
Nunavut’s next senator must be an Inuk, says Sen. Dennis Patterson, who retires from Parliament’s upper house on Dec. 30. (Photo by Corey Larocque)
It doesn’t take a lot of sober second thought to see the merits in Sen. Dennis Patterson’s call for his replacement to be Inuk; it’s a no-brainer.
“I want to say that I believe the next senator for Nunavut must be an Inuk, reflective of the population of Nunavut,” Patterson said in his farewell speech in Parliament’s upper house, on Dec. 13.
How better to represent Nunavut’s interests than by naming an Inuk to the Senate?
But if you really want to reflect the population, he or she should also be young.
And by “young,” let’s say … under 55 — which by Senate standards is spry. Senators must be at least 30 years old … so Gen Z need not apply.
Patterson, who turns 75 on Dec. 30, will be forced to vacate the Senate seat he has occupied since 2009.
That means Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is on the hunt for the next honourable senator for Nunavut.
The Senate exists to ensure regional interests are represented in Parliament. It’s also to prevent the more populous provinces (read Ontario) from steamrolling the smaller ones in the elected House of Commons, where population dictates the seat count for each province and territory.
There will be plenty of chatter across the Arctic in the coming weeks as Nunavummiut speculate on who should fill Patterson’s shoes.
No doubt, people will point to the usual suspects who have been active since the 1990.
Nunavut has been fortunate to have had a string of strong leaders who led Inuit through the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and the birth of a new territory.
But Nunavut is nearly 25 years old now. It faces 21st century challenges like housing, building and retaining an effective public service, connecting the territory to the world through speedy internet, managing climate change and finding innovative solutions to social issues like mental health supports and suicide prevention.
It’s time to move on to Nunavut: The Next Generation.
There’s an abundance of bright, passionate, educated and professional future leaders ready to take the reins. (We hope our comments section will light up with suggestions for leaders of tomorrow.)
Trudeau could hasten this modernization by naming a senator who’s avant garde, instead of old guard.
If Nunavut is to have a young senator, he or she should commit to something Patterson failed to do — move on before getting too long in the tooth.
In 2009, when then-prime minister Stephen Harper — a Conservative who held Parliament’s unelected upper house in low esteem — named Patterson to the Senate, he was part of a crop of rookie senators who vowed they would only hang around for eight years. That’s roughly equal to two terms for an elected member of Parliament.
Fourteen years later, Patterson is leaving the Senate — not because he wants to, but because the Constitution says he has to.
Nunavut’s Senate seat looms large on the territory’s political landscape. It’s one of just two positions representing a territory that is Canada’s largest geographically but smallest in terms of population.
There’s one member of Parliament from Nunavut elected to the House of Commons. And only one seat in the 105-member Senate belongs to Nunavut. (By comparison, Ontario has 24 Senate seats. So does Quebec.)
Patterson’s call for an Inuk senator is obvious. But why does Nunavut need a young senator? Because, to paraphrase Trudeau, it’s 2023.
Hopefully by now, Nunavut has realized that youth in politics is overrated? This idea that young people have all the answers is very 1960’s. Youth have minimal life experience, and apart from spewing back the brainwashing from their minimal schooling, they have very little to offer. It’s not their fault, it’s just their life stage, and the fact that schooling in Nunavut is not very good, and the whole territory is so isolated and can’t offer a breadth of experience to young people.
Young people should be encouraged to work their way up through a career that involves hard work and responsibility, eventually earning positions of importance, rather than perpetuate the idea that they are fabulous already and should be starting at the top.
As history has proven age and experience are not the same, same goes with the mindset and attitude of someone, meaning you could still have someone, who is 55 and older, be immature and have a bad attitude than someone who is 54 and younger with a lot of experience and level-headedness. I’m not saying there isn’t anyone over the age of 55 that doesn’t have the experience, attitude, level-headedness, and guiding knowledge; I’m saying that don’t throw away someone who doesn’t have the age of your opinion. Not all of the older generations have all the answers and not all of the younger generations have the lack of knowledge. Both need to come together and plan moving forward in a positive manner.
Yes the next Nunavut Senator should be Inuit, relatively young, and probably female.
Ideally it will be someone with life experience, and some proven skills in business or government. Nunavut deserves action from their Senator, not just a figurehead. I think that the sweet spot would be someone in the 40 – 50 year old range, not too young and not too old.
You also need someone who is comfortable in both worlds, the north and the south, the aboriginal world and the western world, the past and the present. Also please choose someone who lives in the north full time, not someone who has moved to the south.
Nunavut needs a Senator that resides in the territory full time so that they are reminded of the challenges daily, as well as the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the people.
They should also commit to no more than 10 years in the Senate. A true leader knows when to step aside to let the next generation assume responsibility.
Hopefully someone will step up and put their name forward, and hopefully the PM will choose wisely.
I hope Karen Kabloona is in the running for this position. She fits all your points.
Are you really comparing how many people represent Ontario and Quebec to Nunavut? Last time I checked and someone can correct me if I’m wrong but those two provinces have a couple more people living in those provinces. For the ratio of people represented by the MP, Nunavut probably has the best ratio for representation.
You do outgoing Senator Patterson a disservice in two ways in your editorial. First you imply that because he is turning 75, he is “long in the tooth“. Nothing could be further from the truth. Senator Patterson is still performing on all cylinders. Secondly, you imply that he broke some implied agreement that he would resign after eight years in the Senate. As an experienced reporter you very well know the reasons why he did not, but you failed to report them. Your readers need to know that Patterson, and other Senators appointed at approximately the same time, agreed to resign after eight years if Prime Minister Harper was successful in achieving Senate reform and creating an elected Senate. He was not successful in this initiative, and therefore the condition under which Patterson had agreed to resign was not met and there was no reason for him to resign. That’s the story readers need to hear.
It’s pretty incredible to me as we come to an end to 2023, that the media still tries to justify the existence of this prehistoric, undemocratic and useless institution that we know as the senate. “It increases regional representation so that large populations don’t steamroll smaller ones”. Even if that could be an excuse for no democracy ( which it never should be), that justification is hogwash: Ontario has the same number of senate seats as all the four western provinces combined!!! That’s real regional parity right??? Hahaha.
The Senate is the living embodiment of a dark past in Canada where it was felt democratic representation in government wasn’t such a good thing, and we needed an unelected aristocracy to keep check on the unsophisticated ordinary voters.
The Senate was created in a time when the political elite of the day also thought residential schools were a great idea. Some people may not want to think about that but I think it’s high time that we should. It’s time for our country to move on from this antiquated, undemocratic and out of touch institution we know as the senate. Mr Patterson can be proud of it all he wants but I have no time for it.
If a political party promised in the next election that they would work to abolish the senate and put all of the money saved into a special purpose fund to help indigenous people with water, housing, child welfare and education, I would vote for that party and campaign hard for them. Would be nice to vote for something I really believed in for once.
Happy New Year.
Go Cuggies!! Rock on and Rock Hard!!
Go Cugs!!😍
There’s something really lame about white guys who sit in those cushy high-paid roles their entire lives, and then when they’re ready to retire, all of a sudden the time for white people is over.
This is little more than virtue signaling. If Patterson cared so much about having an Inuk in Nunavut’s Senator seat, he would have declined the appointment at the outset. Its not like there weren’t qualified Inuit when he took up the position.
As a senator I think Leona Aglukak would be very good.