Natan Obed talks hockey, leadership in bid for 4th term at helm of ITK
Inuit delegates to choose new president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami on Sept. 18
Natan Obed wants a fourth term as president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. The organization’s next president will be elected Sept. 18. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Third in a three-part series on the Sept. 18 Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami presidential election
A lot of what Natan Obed knows about leadership he learned from hockey.
Working together, winning together, losing together, a lot about it is “lifting people up,” said the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
Running for his fourth term against sole opponent Kevin Kablutsiak, Obed says he hopes to continue his work in representing and advocating for Canada’s Inuit on a national level.
A new president is set to be chosen for a four-year term on Sept. 18 in Cambridge Bay when two delegates from the four regional Inuit organizations in Canada, along with ITK’s vice-president, will cast a vote.
Obed has been at the helm of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami since 2015. In addition to leading ITK, he is also vice-president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council.
The 49-year-old father of two teenage sons was born in Fredericton, N.B., but grew up between Nain, Labrador, and Maine, where he went to high school.
Oben attended Tufts University in Massachusetts on a hockey scholarship. His father is Inuk and his mother is an American.
For the entirety of his career after college, Obed has worked in some capacity for Inuit rights organizations, primarily in socio-economic development.
He first worked for the Labrador Inuit Association and later joined Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
Obed also spent eight years in Iqaluit working at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. as director of cultural and social development before he was elected president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami for the first time at age 39.
He says he is proud of his work.
Inuit in Canada, Obed said, were almost an afterthought in the development of federal policy. Now, they are at the table, front and centre with the other national Indigenous organizations.
As an example, Obed said the federal government has agreed to implement the Inuit Nunangat Policy which puts the onus on government departments and agencies to consider Inuit perspectives when forming policies and programs.
But there is still a lot of progress that can be made with the federal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney, who took on the role in March, Obed said.
He is also looking forward to the organization’s involvement, along with other national Indigenous organizations, in continuing to develop the legal framework to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The declaration, made in 2007, recognizes the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the rights to land and self-determination. Canada passed the United Nations Declaration Act in 2016, taking the first tangible steps to enshrine the declaration into law.
Since that time, the federal government has worked with Indigenous groups to develop a legal framework. In 2023, Obed along with federal leaders announced the creation of the United Nations Declaration Action Plan.
Reflecting on his opponent, Obed said he has known Kablutsiak for a long time, describing him as somebody he “highly” respects.
“Competition is good for a healthy democracy,” Obed said.
The presidential election should not be about defeating your opponent, he said, but selecting whomever is the best person for the job.
No wonder he was always off side in his game. Never crossed the blue lune for a shot ! Anyone for a rebound ?
Only shot he has left! Ting! Hit the post!
“Competition is good for a healthy democracy” indeed… but this process can hardly be called democratic in any meaningful way. In reality the winner is a Doge, a ruler chosen by an aristocratic council.
Naa, he never knew he’s playing offside the entire time,
OBED!!
“Leave it all on the ice — no excuses, no regrets.”
“This is your game. Skate hard, hit hard, and make them remember your number.”
“Hockey’s about battles, not perfection. Win the next shift, then the one after that.”
“Even pros have slumps. What makes players great is how they push through them.”
I don’t know what tapiriksat have done, no idea, now six representatives from east to west and kalaaliit nunanaat now prepares for other four years, do you call that democracy??
Labrador Inuit are hard pressed, an isolated region mismanaged by the province, where most families could not afford to buy skates for the kids.
If Nathan is the best Inuit can put into ITK, no wonder we are so screwed…Justin Trudeau Lite – cannot even keep promises he made at the beginning. I thought you said you would learn to speak before the end of your first term? Oh? First term is 10 years???
Just like Justin, this man cannot balance a budget, build bridges or accept that other people have different perspectives, not just the liberal view. He is more about identity politics, rather than tangible actions… seems to be more of a fourth line centre even though he pretends to be the primary centre.
He has yet to develop and draft an Inuit National Strategy geared towards the Inuit regions but he gets mad about “Eskimos” yet does nothing about our suicide crisis. In any event, this just means that ITK is basically useless as they have an absolutely useless leader who is only good for photo ops as the Liberals talking piece.
Harsh criticism my friend!
The Canadian Inuit organizations national and international have taken the road well trodden in having zero distance from itself and the Western Alliance and its propaganda that excludes facts. Facts that include a 2014 coup in Eastern Europe Ukraine and the execution of part B, a build up of the military for 7 years afterwards. NATO justifies its existence as a body precisely constituted to oppose Russia and anything Russian. As a US senator described the system, you do not oppose the military complex, It has 7-ways to Sunday to strike back.
Indigenous people of the North, Russian included are welcoming and sharing people, neighbours, be it in Canada or in Eurasia. It would be right if Inuit orgs worked to mend international relations. The deck is stacked against things improving however what with the well funded military system and the US administration hanging on to the idea of Empire, of telling everyone else how things will be. Billions of $ are wasted to maintain the status quo.