Housing and infrastructure concerns in Rankin Inlet South race
Gerry Anawak, Annie Tattuinee and Tagak Curley face off for 1 of 2 seats representing Nunavut’s second-largest communities
Gerry Anawak, Annie Tattuinee and Tagak Curley are running in the Oct. 27 territorial election to represent the riding of Rankin Inlet South. (File photos)
Nunatsiaq News is publishing riding profiles ahead of the Oct. 27 territorial election. Keep your eye on our website to learn more about who is running in your area.
Two political first-timers will face off against one of Nunavut’s founding fathers to represent Nunavut’s second largest community at the legislative assembly.
Residents of Rankin Inlet South, a constituency that includes the southwestern half of the community, will have a choice between three candidates – Gerry Anawak, Annie Tattuinee and Tagak Curley. It also includes both of Rankin Inlet’s schools, the RCMP detachment, hamlet office, airport, Kivalliq Healing Facility, Co-op and Northern stores.
Incumbent Lorne Kusugak, who has served as the riding’s MLA since 2017, announced he wouldn’t seek re-election.
Curley couldn’t be reached for comment.
A father of three and lifelong public servant, Anawak says his main priorities are building more houses and expanding services available in the rapidly growing community of almost 3,000 people.
“I really want to push for homes. We’ve got so many homeless people and our growing young population is moving out of the community because there’s just not enough homes,” he said.
Anawak says even with Nunavut 3000, Nunavut’s government’s plan to build 3000 new residential units between 2022 and 2030, Rankin will still need more houses.
“We need at least 500 homes right away,” Anawak said.
There is also a need to expand mental health supports and addictions prevention services, he said.
Tattuinee agrees that the community needs more homes and services, but notes that it would take creating new water and power infrastructure first. The community’s core infrastructure is at capacity and older than its expected lifespan, she said.
“If we wanted to build more buildings, we need to upgrade our infrastructure to allow us to our community to grow,” Tattuinee said.
Also, the territory should tap into the Arctic sovereignty and security conversation to ensure that it includes “addressing gaps in infrastructure that in turn deal with mental and physical as well as food insecurity issues,” she said.
A mother of three, grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of one, Tattuinee has worked in “supportive” roles for Inuit organizations, territorial and federal governments for more than 40 years.
She once held a role of the CEO of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and currently works in the executive department of the Kivalliq Inuit Association.
“I’ve found myself recently wanting to use my voice is rather than waiting in the background and waiting for somebody to say, something that I find near and dear to my heart,” she said.
In a Facebook post announcing his candidacy on Sept. 19, Curley said he plans to help Rankin Inlet address Nunavut-wide issues like “out-of-control” food prices, environmental impacts from mining, high cost of living and high costs for air travel.
Curley, a founding member of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a former Nunavut MLA and cabinet minister, is a veteran of Nunavut politics, often touted as one of the territory’s founding fathers, and a self-described “radical.”
It is kind of ironic coming out of the constituency that was recently represented by the Minister of Housing. That housing is of concern. Actually, not ironic at all. Just indicative of the failure of the NU 3000.
Not sure if these “new candidates” have been paying attention (does not appear so) but NU 3000, the project created in Oct 2022 to help to alleviate the critical housing shortage in Nunavut has been failing miserably. It would be nice to hear a candidate say they will request a full investigation into the NHC, NU 3000 and the Sole-Source Contract with NCCD (or NCC 3000 or whatever they are calling themselves this week).
Perhaps candidate Anawak, should recognize that there is not a chance in getting 500 more homes over and above the orignal number what was allocated for this constituency of the original 3000 homes Territory wide by 2030; which so far has rendered very few. Yes, there is an 8 & 12 plex going up in Rankin right now. Those buildings should have been delivered and occupied by end of October 2024 (yes 2024). It’s now October 2025. So, what does any candidate think are the chances that without fixing NU 3000 that you can take any steps forward on any additional builds beyond that project. Perhaps start by telling the voters you are going to try and fix NHC & the NU 3000 first and how you might plan to do that.
It appears candidate Tattuinee, is using some logic and forward thinking in regard to the planning you actually need to support new home construction. This shows some logical thinking we should be looking for from candidates. You cannot just throw numbers at a problem. You need a solid, well thought out plan. That starts with logical sequence such as land availability, infrastructure requirements (roads, water, utilities, wastewater management, garbage pick-up, etc, etc..), the capacity of the Hamlet to manage the housing growth and most importantly the money to make it all happen (funding). At the very least it is a good start to have a candidate speaking to this process in some form.
So, candidate Curley could not be, “reached for comment”. I see. Interesting. He must have something much more important than an election going on, then to make time to talk to voters through the venue afforded by Nunatsiaq. Yeah, how did he, “self-describe” again? “Radical”. Sure. * If I could put an emoji here I would (it would have something to do with eye-rolling and hands holding each side of the head).
Remember everyone, ask tough questions, expect tangible answers. Then make your choice. Regardless of who you choose, get out and vote. If you have a car, give a lift to an Elder, take a friend or family member and GO VOTE. We cannot expect change without exercising one of the greatest privileges we have.
I’m not overly impressed with this Back To The Future reboot. Sequels are rarely worth the price of admission.
What about the dozen stand alone units . The pads being built for the next round of units. Oh yeah. This isn’t about facts.
There’s a first for everything; as you don’t see Annie smiling ever! Beautiful smile!