Anawak quits Iqaluit city council, citing weekend crash
Former MP was sworn in as a city councillor last Thursday after being elected Oct. 23
Jack Anawak, seen speaking at a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event in 2022, resigned his seat on Iqaluit city council on Monday, just four days after being sworn in. He was elected Oct. 23. Anawak cited his involvement in a crash Saturday evening for his decision to quit. (File photo)
Jack Anawak has quit Iqaluit city council, less than a week after being sworn in.
Anawak confirmed Monday afternoon that he has resigned from council. When asked why, he cited his involvement in a weekend vehicle crash in Iqaluit as his reason for quitting.
RCMP have not responded to requests for information about the alleged incident, or whether anyone was charged as a result.
City of Iqaluit spokesperson Kent Driscoll confirmed the municipality “has received a complaint, and we are investigating,” but declined further comment.
Anawak is a veteran Nunavut politician. Originally from Naujaat, he has served in various territorial and federal positions since he was elected to the House of Commons in 1988 as a Liberal for the former federal riding of Nunatsiaq.
He was elected as an MLA in 1999 for the first Nunavut legislative assembly.
On Oct. 23, Anawak was elected as one of eight members of Iqaluit’s city council. He placed eighth with 635 votes, edging out ninth-place finisher Lewis Falkiner MacKay who received 525 votes, according to Elections Nunavut. The new council was sworn in on Nov. 2.
On its website, Elections Nunavut states that byelections will not be held to replace council vacancies. Instead, it is up to each council to choose a replacement when needed.
Well that didn’t take long!
He has done this before, anyone remember his accident close to Arctic college.
From the previous article swareing them in “Anawak also spoke of the makeup of the new council, saying Inuit in Iqaluit will feel more represented.”
Well. I hope no one was injured in the crash but I guess he was not overly concerned about the representation after all, either that or the crashed was a result of… And hopefully that’s not the case.
Jack Anawak, Nov. 3
“It’s been a long time since there was a real representation from Inuit on the council”
Jack Anawak, Nov. 6
“I quit”
He came. He saw. He conquered. He left.
What a badass.
venit, vidit, vicit, abiit
I certainly hope this time city council will use the list of candidates for whom residents voted, i.e. the candidate who had the next highest number of votes. Although, as happened in recent years, perhaps those individuals will be too unpalatable to the council, as they may ask questions or seek accountability… sigh…
This rule allowing councils to choose replacements to fill vacancies is a problem. It is seriously undemocratic and encourages the development of insider networks and other undue influence. Some councilors have been on there multiple terms, others have significant business interests. Our electoral process should not facilitate the manipulation of important municipal processes in this way.
Random selection would be better than this.
Pick the 9th place candidate – I didn’t vote for him, but it’s the right thing to do.
So people vote for 8 councillors and they all got a seat. Why suggest council take the first place loser? They lost the election!!! Council choose your option as per the ACT that governs you and find a good person. This is democracy in action, laws are being followed, period full stop!!!
The law says they can take the next runner up lol. so.. they would be following that law
Exactly they have 2 choices. Let the elected people make a choice, after all that’s is what they were elected to do
Two weeks ago the 9th place person got more total votes than any runner up EVER.
530 votes out of a possible 1,300 is 40% of the vote. That is larger margin of voter support than two of the councilors that were elected in 2019, and more than ALL SIX of the 2019-2022 appointees put together.
Technically it is legally possible for the current council to ignore our voters.
If the election was like a year ago or so, sure., the landscape may have changed.
the election was recently. and the 9th place person still got a lot of votes.
it’s way too soon to do a public call out so they can choose their buddies.
they have a candidate who got in 9th place.
there’s a reason that’s part of the law.
anything else at this point is just unethical.
How many times have people elected in various capacities quit “ for personal reasons“ or otherwise in the last few years in Nunavut?
In many cases they have cost a fortune for re elections .
This is totally irresponsible .
On the other hand the people of Nunavut should consider seriously who to vote for.
Being elected is a big responsibility that should be taken seriously.
Beware next time
Thanks
Check what Noah has to say….
I hold the voters responsible because they should have known better. Vote for reliability and integrity .
I agree, if you voted for Jack in the first place you deserve the embarrassment
Hopefully they choose the next runner up.
Going the call out option will result in either someone who didn’t run for election
or someone who got less votes than the next runner up
Doing a public call out so soon after election is undemocratic.