Joe Arlooktoo was always a gentleman and gentle man

Dennis Patterson

Nunavut has lost an elder statesman of the highest calibre — Joe Arlooktoo, mayor, three-term MLA, notable artist and community leader. He died in December at the age of 86.

In his 12 years representing the South Baffin riding that includes Kimmirut and Cape Dorset from 1979 to 1991, Joe was obliged to faithfully make the long journey from Kimmirut to the then-territorial capital of Yellowknife.

There, with his peers and close friends and colleagues from the Baffin region Ludy Pudluk, Mark Evaluardjuk, Ipeelie Kilabuk and Moses Appaquq, Joe actively participated in the Nunavut caucus.

No doubt in contrast to their sometimes strident non-Inuit colleagues — like the late Gordon Wray, John Todd and myself — highly respected, eloquent and thoughtful Inuit MLAs like Joe Arlooktoo gave weight and gravitas to our cause of creating an Inuit homeland by dividing the Northwest Territories in two.

Who could denounce a respected elder rising in the legislature in Yellowknife, far from his small remote community in southern Baffin Island, who spoke with conviction of his support for the creation of Nunavut and in his first language?

I have heard Joe speak English when required, but it was the practice of him and his fellow primarily unilingual MLAs to speak in their first language in the territorial legislature and its committees.

This won them great respect among western MLAs, some of whom were tepid on the idea of division of the N.W.T., but whose support was needed to make it happen.

That support was given largely because it was impossible to deny the sincerity and conviction of those highly respected eastern Arctic MLAs, who never stooped to the heckling or confrontational tactics some of us occasionally employed.

Joe was a sophisticated, thoughtful man who had travelled extensively in Canada. He was also at home in Ottawa, where he joined with all of his fellow MLAs in 1983 to lobby and successfully persuade the federal government to reinstate section 35 in the newly repatriated Constitution of Canada “recognizing and affirming existing Aboriginal rights.”

The strategies our minority Nunavut caucus devised to win support for division from the majority western N.W.T. MLAs, and even from the people of the N.W.T., in two public votes — the first in 1984, which secured 54 per cent support for the creation of Nunavut — were carefully devised by our strong Nunavut caucus, Inuit and non-Inuit MLAs working closely together united in common cause.

Joe was respected because of his advocacy for his home community of Kimmirut. He was particularly persistent about Kimmirut’s restricted cargo and passenger capacity due to its very short 1,899-foot airstrip, which means the Twin Otter is the biggest aircraft that can land there.

He was known in the legislature for his unwavering support for extension of the runway at Kimmirut, even though the only way to accomplish that involved a lot of earth work, including removing a rather large hill at the north end of the runway.

Every session, Joe would bring up the runway issue. The late N.W.T. public works minister, Gordon Wray, told me that in response to Joe’s intense lobbying he sent a few boxes of dynamite to Lake Harbour and suggested they start by blowing up the hill!

Whether such an expensive capital project was feasible for such a small community was not the question for Joe Arlooktoo. It was his passion for advocating for his community that mattered.

Joe ran unsuccessfully for re-election in 1991 but quickly landed on his feet, serving his community once again as a two-term mayor of Kimmirut.

Being a mayor is not always an easy job. At times, it can be a very tough job, involving much more than water, sewer, roads, dogs and garbage.

Joe was mayor in 2007 when a well-liked 20-year-old police officer, Douglas Scott, on his first posting after his training in Regina, was sadly shot and killed in Kimmirut by a drunk local citizen on a rampage.

Once again, Joe exercised leadership in bringing the community together to come to terms with the tragedy and have a difficult discussion about the reasons for violence there.

Joe was justifiably proud of his late son, Goo, who was elected in his dad’s old riding in 1995 and became minister of justice, housing, deputy premier and even served briefly as premier of the N.W.T. in 1998.

Joe was also a notable carver in his earlier life, whose works are exhibited in numerous Canadian galleries.

Always a gentleman and a gentle man, Joe Arlooktoo served his communities and his region well.

Dennis Patterson was the senator for Nunavut from 2009 to 2023 and was premier of the Northwest Territories from 1987 to 1991.