Louis Tapardjuk remembered as hard-working politician, Inuktitut defender

From stocking shelves at a store to representing Igloolik as an MLA and territorial cabinet minister, Louis Tapardjuk “has done a lot,” says former Nunavut premier Paul Quassa.

Tapardjuk died Tuesday in Iqaluit at age 73.

Legislative assembly Speaker David Joanasie announced his death in a news release Tuesday, offering his condolences and referring to Tapardjuk as a “lifelong advocate for Inuit rights and language.”

Tapardjuk was born in an igloo on the sea ice off Aggu Bay in 1953, according to a biography on the legislature’s website.

He attended residential school in Chesterfield Inlet before becoming a stockboy at Igloolik’s Co-op store at age 12.

Tapardjuk worked his way up to being manager of that store and later president of Arctic Co-operatives Ltd., and eventually served as a municipal councillor and mayor of Igloolik.

“He started off working at a very young age and he worked her right to the end,” Quassa said, in a phone interview.

“Even yesterday, when I saw him, I know he had said that he wanted to go back to Igloolik. He had work to do.”

Quassa — a signatory of the Nunavut Agreement— knew Tapardjuk as a friend since childhood. He called him his “ningauksakuluk,” which means “future brother-in-law” in Inuktitut.

Tapardjuk married Quassa’s sister, Lucie, and the two friends remained close family members as they each became leaders in their own right.

In 2004, Tapardjuk was elected MLA for Amittuq. Four years later, he was re-elected.

Until 2010, he held several cabinet positions, notably as the minister of culture, language, elders and youth.

One of his major legislative achievements was helping pass the Inuit Language Protection Act in the assembly in 2008.

“He worked very hard to try and ensure that the Inuit language was used in public service, in Nunavut government,” said Tagak Curley, who served as MLA for Rankin Inlet North alongside Tapardjuk in the legislature.

Curley recalled Tapardjuk rarely spoke English in the chamber.

The late MLA was a great colleague to work alongside, Curley said, adding his death is a “great loss” for Nunavut.

“He was the right kind of individual to represent us at that time and he understood our forefathers and how they had survived as well,” Curley said.

“He did not apologize whatsoever for being a strong advocate. So we want to see as many [of] the MLAs that are coming along to study what he did.”

In more recent years, Tapardjuk continued to promote Inuktitut and Inuit culture, and performed as a church organist in Igloolik, Quassa said.

He was a “family man,” he said, who leaves behind several siblings, children and grandchildren.

Igloolik’s flag at the Nunavut legislature has been lowered to half-mast in Tapardjuk’s honour, Joanasie said.