Eccentric council candidate found dead

What could have been one of the most bizarre city council election campaigns in recent memory came to a sudden halt this week, when the lifeless body of Oopeetee Atagooyuk, 51, was found this past Tuesday afternoon outside his shack in the Iqaluit beach area.

Atagooyuk, a well-known street person, turned up as a surprise candidate for Iqaluit city council after nominations closed on Sept. 11.

His death means that in the Oct. 16 municipal election, voters will now choose eight councillors from a list of nine candidates.

Police, who have ordered an autopsy, say they still don’t know how Atagooyuk died.

But despite widespread rumours that Atagooyuk was murdered, police say his death was not caused by another person.

“The investigation into his death is continuing, although foul play is not suspected at this point,” an RCMP news release says.

A lifelong substance abuser, Atagooyuk was well-known for his addiction to intoxicants such as hair spray and Lysol, and equally well-known for his erratic and sometimes anti-social behaviour.

Atagooyuk often claimed to be “the devil’s son” and bore a crude tattoo of the number “666” on his wrist. When intoxicated, Atagooyuk sometimes erupted into bizarre screaming fits in public places.

He owned a collection of colourful hats and lived in a shack on the beach bedecked with a collection of national and provincial flags. They included a Confederate Stars and Bars flag that he occasionally used for one-man parades along the Ring Road.

The remaining candidates for city council are: David Alexander, Mark Boudreau, Allen Hayward, Grant Hipfner, Jimmy Kilabuk, Jim Little, Claude Martel, Simon Nattaq, and Glenn Williams.

Elisapee Sheutiapik, the incumbent mayor, has already been acclaimed to another three-year term. She was the only person nominated for mayor by Sept. 11.

The only other public body election to be held Oct. 16 will be held among the 61 people who are eligible to vote for members of the Commission scolaire francophone de Nunavut, the French school board. Five spots on the on the Commission scolaire will be contested by seven people: Jeffrey Barkley, Jane Cooper, Rosemarie David, Marco Dussault, Jacques Fortier, Jacinthe Giroux, Carolyn Mallory, and Anthony Vieni.

As well, Iqaluit ratepayers will vote in a plebiscite on two borrowing questions: one seeks permission to borrow up up to $12 million for a new recreation centre, and the other seeks permission to borrow up to $6 million for a new city hall.