Andrew Nakashuk wants more transparency in NTI’s decision-making

Nunatsiaq News is publishing profiles of the 10 candidates in Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.’s May 27 presidential byelection.

Andrew Nakashuk says he wants to lead Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. so that Inuit in the territory will have a greater say when decisions are made that will affect their lives.

“I’m not afraid to use my voice,” said Nakashuk, who is running for president of NTI in its May 27 byelection, in an interview last month in his home community of Pangnirtung.

“I want Inuit to have more say — more power — and be more involved in decision-making.”

Nakashuk, 52, is among 10 candidates vying to lead NTI, the territorial organization responsible for ensuring obligations to Inuit beneficiaries in the Nunavut Agreement are maintained.

Nakashuk previously ran for president in 2021 and 2024. A byelection was called to fill a vacancy created after former president Jeremy Tunraluk resigned in January.

Nakashuk said his priorities include improving communication between NTI and its beneficiaries and enhancing transparency around the organization’s funding programs.

“Communication is important — Inuit should know where NTI is and what NTI is doing,” he said.

A former bylaw officer, conservation officer and fishery officer, Nakashuk has also served for six years as a hamlet councillor in Pangnirtung.

He was also vice-chair of the Qulliq Energy Corp. board of directors, chaired the Pangnirtung Inuit Co-op Committee, and was a board member for Cumberland Sound Fisheries and the Pangnirtung hunters and trappers organization.

Most recently, he served on the Nunavut Planning Commission for more than nine years, including seven years as chairperson from 2017 to 2024, when he left the commission.

With the planning commission, Nakashuk led public hearings throughout Nunavut in 2017 and again in 2022 when he helped lead a series of meetings across the territory on the Nunavut Land Use Plan.

The land use plan is designed to guide resource use and development in Nunavut. The planning commission submitted a new draft Nunavut Land Use Plan for approval in 2023, but the document remains unsigned.

Nakashuk said that as NTI president he will push for the plan to be ratified by its three signatories — the territorial and federal governments and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

Throughout his professional life, Nakashuk has visited all Nunavut hamlets except Grise Fiord, Resolute Bay and Arctic Bay. He plans to reach people in these communities through local community radio stations.

Nakashuk also wants to use Facebook and perhaps TikTok to communicate with Inuit teens, who are eligible to vote at age 16.

He plans to visit the regional hubs of Iqaluit, Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet before election day, using the $5,000 bursary each candidate gets from NTI to cover travel expenses.

On a personal note, he said he wants people to know that he does not drink and does not use drugs.

“I’ve been alcohol-free for close to nine years,” Nakashuk said. “These are things I want people to know.”

Nakashuk is married to Margaret Nakashuk, who served as Pangnirtung’s MLA from 2017 until 2025. They have three children and four grandchildren.