Brian Koonoo takes Tununiq as election results trickle in for Qikiqtaaluk Region

Brian Koonoo, a retired Parks Canada employee, said he was “quite overwhelmed” to win a three-way race in the Qikiqtaaluk riding of Tununiq in Monday’s territorial election.

With 194 votes, he edged out fellow Pond Inlet resident David Qamaniq, who had 78 votes, and Verna Strickland of Rankin Inlet who finished with 109 votes, according to unofficial results on Elections Nunavut’s website.

The constituency was guaranteed to have a new representative because incumbent Karen Nutarak did not run for re-election.

“I’m quite happy and I’m very thankful for the votes and all the support I have been given,” Koonoo said, as he celebrated with his family at the home of his mother, Rhoda Koonoo.

Voter turnout in the riding was just over 48 per cent, with 384 votes cast.

Koonoo is recently retired after working with Parks Canada for 22 years, including seven years as a peace officer and the remainder as a resource management officer. He is a former board member with the local hunters and trappers organization.

He wrote two children’s books for Inhabit Media’s Animals Illustrated series, titled Arctic Fox and Arctic Land Mammals. He has a third work planned with the publisher, a non-fiction book to be called Inuunira: My Story of Survival.

Koonoo said that now that he has made it through the election campaign, he plans to meet with his constituents in the hamlet on Tuesday.

“I’m going to go around thanking people for all the support in the polls and to see the other candidates that ran and thank them,” he said.

In the Uqqummiut constituency, Gordon Kautuk took an early lead in Uqqummiut riding as results in Nunavut’s general election began coming in Monday night.

Kautuk, a Clyde River hamlet councillor, is challenging incumbent MLA and former Qikiqtarjuaq mayor Mary Killiktee, who has represented the riding since 2021.

There are four polls in the constituency, and the one poll that has reported results so far is in Kautuk’s hometown of Clyde River, where he received 368 votes compared to 25 for Killiktee.

Uqqummiut riding includes the communities of Clyde River and Qikiqtarjuaq.

Clyde River has about 1,200 residents, making it roughly twice as big as Qikiqtarjuaq’s population.

Watch for updates to this story.