Kusugak won’t seek re-election as president of ITK

Jose Kusugak, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, announced this week that he will not seek re-election during the ITK annual general meeting in June.

Kusugak has held the position since June 2000, and was elected during that year’s AGM in Arviat.

During Kusugak’s three-year reign, the organization changed its name from Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, and according to an ITK spokesperson, he coined the phrase “Inuit are First Canadians and Canadians First.”

Kusugak told members of the organization that he wants to return to his home community of Rankin Inlet. ITK’s head office is in Ottawa.

Kusugak first became involved with the organization in the early 1970s to work on the standardization of the Inuktitut writing system. He worked as an assistant to Tagak Curley, who was ITC’s president at the time, and helped introduce the concept of land claims to the Arctic.

In 1974 he travelled to Alaska to study the Alaska land claims, and from 1974 to 1977 he chaired the Inuktitut language standardization program.

From 1994 to 2000 he was president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

The election to replace Kusugak will be held on June 12 in Puvirnituq. ITK had not released a list of nominees for the three-year presidential term by press-time this week.

However, any Inuk may apply to become a candidate or nominate another Inuk. The application must be accompanied by a $200 fee and the signatures of 20 Inuit who support the potential candidate.

Kusugak was at a retreat until May 8 and unavailable for comment.