Elections Nunavut disqualifies 7 candidates for 5 years
Report says they didn’t file 2025 election financial disclosures on time
Seven candidates from the 2025 territorial election are barred from running from office until Dec. 30, 2030, over alleged failures to properly submit their financial disclosures. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Seven Nunavummiut are barred from running for municipal or territorial office for five years over their alleged failures to properly submit their financial disclosures from last year’s territorial election, and at least one of them is considering appealing the disqualification.
Agoakteak Gregory Nahaglulik, who ran in the Gjoa Haven riding, said he sent his financial disclosure by mail but issues at the time with his local Canada Post office may have led to his package getting lost.
“I truly believe that my … document containing my campaign stuff was lost somewhere along the way,” Nahaglulik said.
He added he didn’t raise any money for his campaign.
However, the financial account he created for his campaign has been closed, and he doesn’t have backup documentation.
“If this was like a situation such as mine where things got lost because of errors and stuff like that, I cannot see why we have to be punished,” Nahaglulik said.
Sonny Porter in Gjoa Haven, Malaiya Lucassie in Iqaluit-Tasiluk, Phillip Kalluk in Quttiktuq, Tagak Curley in Rankin Inlet South, and Joanna Quassa in Aggu are also barred from running for territorial and municipal office until Dec. 30, 2030.
Louis Tapardjuk, who ran in Aggu and died in April, is also on the disqualified list.
Their names are included in the Elections Nunavut Report on the Conduct of the Seventh Nunavut General Election, which was tabled in the legislative assembly on May 21.
Curley said he is also puzzled why he’s barred from running.
The veteran Nunavut leader also ran what he described as a zero-dollar campaign and says he properly submitted his disclosure via the local returning office.
“We complied with the reporting requirement,” Curley said.
The Nunavut’s Elections Act requires candidates to submit their financial returns within 60 days of the election, said Kiran Situt, Nunavut’s chief electoral officer, in an interview.
“They failed to comply with it, that’s why they are disqualified,” Situt said, adding the former candidates can appeal.
“I’m just following the act and reporting it.”
Curley said he’s not complaining and he has no plans to run for office again.
“I’m over 80 years old now,” he said, adding that he’s happy with a “younger generation” taking over leadership positions.
Nahaglulik, however, said he’s hoping to run in the 2027 municipal election.
He hopes to explore an appeal to become eligible again.
“If there’s other means or other ways to to avoid this, then those steps should be taken rather than just punishing the person outright,” Nahaglulik said.
“I find this, in a sense, discriminating towards Nunavummiut, especially towards future candidates.”
4 RCMP investigations, no charges
Situt’s election report indicates the Elections Nunavut filed four complaints to Nunavut RCMP over alleged violations of the Elections Act.
Those include a candidate who hadn’t taken the appropriate leave of absence from their job but later dropped out of the race, a CBC reporter accused of taking photos of a polling station, and two instances of 17-year-olds attempting to vote underage.
The RCMP, which is responsible for looking into Elections Act complaints, investigated all four incidents and no charges were laid.
that damn dog lost my homework so many times.
I mean Canada Post.
I mean, I just couldn’t be asked to do it cause I lost.
I mean, damn you Canada Post.
Well since he was sending highly sensitive election documentation, he surely sent it using a trackable, registered service. Wonder what the tracking number says?
And since its highly sensitive election documentation, he surely scanned the originals or made copies before sending them off?
This is the kind of accountability that is expected of elected officials, is it not?
You would think , common since !!!!!!!!!!!
… don’t want to elect someone who doesn’t keep records / copies of such documentation anyway.
Why would they keep Louis Tapardjuk on the list if they’re deceased? Are they worried about them rising from the dead and then running?
Good to see someone is actually doing their work over at EN. Unfortunate that the candidates did not respect the requirements. Too bad no one in the new government has chosen to spend any time reviewing, analyzing and then disqualifying (i.e. firing) Elections Nunavut’s Leadership for that colossal dumpster fire of an Election back in October.
Remember the one where it took days and days to get results of ridings with 300 or 400 hundred votes and where the guy in charged told the press, “You are bugging me, I am too busy”!
I guess candidates who fail to do what they are supposed to do receive consequences, but not EN leadership. Sounds a little backwards.
Anyone surprised? I didn’t think so.
Only thing is… Canada Post does lose things fairly regularly… so some credibility there… guess next time (I guess a decade from now) tracking and keep the receipt
Yes, it’s not uncommon that CP loses something up north, especially in the smaller communities.
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I’m a bit surprised to see the comments section has no skepticism of Elections Nunavut’s claims, given how public their mismanagement and issues were during the last election. I’m particularly skeptical of their claims of the violations against reporters given how aggressive EN was with reporters when they were looking for comments on the poor handling of the last election. I’d also assume Tagak Curley knew how to properly submit his paperwork given his past experience.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if EN dropped the ball on their end for a few of these people.