Gloria Uluqsi wins NTI presidency
Iqaluit-based candidate earns 3,541 votes in 10-candidate byelection
Gloria Uluqsi is the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. after Wednesday’s presidential byelection. Voter turnout in the race was 72.4 per cent. (Photo courtesy of Gloria Uluqsi)
Gloria Uluqsi will be the new president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. after garnering 19.6 per cent of the votes in Wednesday’s presidential byelection.
NTI announced the unofficial results of the race on its webpage overnight Wednesday.
The organization is responsible for upholding the rights of Inuit beneficiaries under the Nunavut Agreement.
Ten candidates came forward in the race, which was called earlier this year after former president Jeremy Tunraluk resigned from the role. He was a little more than a year into his term, after being elected in December 2024.
Uluqsi is originally from Whale Cove but now lives in Iqaluit. She has held senior positions with the territorial government, Nunavut Arctic College and Qikiqtani Inuit Association. She is also a former Grade 1 Inuktitut teacher.
She ran a campaign focusing on many issues including housing, Inuit education and training, and support for elders.
Voter turnout in Wednesday’s election was 72.4 per cent, NTI said in the news release announcing the winner. This is the highest turnout in several years.
NTI introduced a voucher program ahead of its 2024 presidential election that promised $100 to any eligible voter who showed up to the polls, and rolled it out again for this week’s byelection.
Before the vouchers were offered, in 2021, voter turnout was 17.5 per cent. Participation grew to 66.7 per cent in 2024, when the incentive was in place.
Uluqsi earned 3,541 votes, which was 908 more than her closest competitor Paul Irngaut, who brought in 2,633 votes. Behind them was Samuel Alagalak, with 2,270 votes.
Community-level voter turnout ranged from a high of 87.4 per cent in Coral Harbour to a low of 45.4 per cent in Pond Inlet.
Uluqsi will serve as president until December 2028.
Anyone who has worked with Gloria knows how caring, hard-working, and smart she is. This is a wonderful opportunity for the NTI and all the lives it affects (Inuit and non-Inuit alike).
Tungaviusigavit numavummiunut inuktitut uqausivut kaillualiruk.
Here’s the spot to guide Nunavut. Strengthen inuktitut language forward.
Welp there goes any hope of a highway and train from Resolute Bay to Grise Fiord. Congrats to Gloria, the only one that had a real platform to work with.
Dammit! I was really hoping to get my groceries here in Cam Bay from the Mary River grocery distribution centre as well!
I wish her well and good luck trying to rebuild NTI into something meaningful for all over Nunavut.
No Criminal Record – Check.
Educated – Check.
No unseemly past financial or legal controversy – Check.
No wild and silly promises – Check.
Positive, inclusive messaging – Check.
Young – Check.
For all the pre-vote talk about Inuit only voting to gain 3 packs of smokes, it now seems clear that Inuit have actually managed to muster our considerable critical thinking skills to make an informed, rational, and objectively wise choice for this position.
While many focus on congratulating our well deserved new President on her win, I cast my focus and well wishes on us ordinary Inuit of Nunavut.
This could have been our 2016 or our 2024, which is always a risk. We resisted this and made our little democracy work for the good.
It only gets better and bigger from here. Thank you and congratulations, fellow Inuit.