New Zealand, Nunavut and Ottawa: Pangnirtung pilot takes Proust Questionnaire

It’s been more than a year since Joseph Akulujuk started living his dream.

For years, he watched planes come in an out of Pangnirtung. Then in 2023, he became a certified pilot himself.

Now, working for Canadian North, Akulujuk is flying all across Nunavut and is thinking of moving to Ottawa.

Recently, he talked to Nunatsiaq News to answer the Proust Questionnaire.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Spending time with family, friends and enjoying your time.

Good experiences with friends.

What is your greatest fear?

Not making any impact. I don’t want to be a nobody, you know?

Not making any type of impact on society.

Which living person do you most admire?

My mom. She’s gone through a lot, and every single time she did the best she could for her and her family.

What is your greatest achievement?

Flying with Canadian North. It’s been my childhood dream since I was a little boy, and now I did what I had to do. I got my pilot licence and now I’m flying in Nunavut.

What’s your current state of mind?

Lots of changes going on because I will be moving to Ottawa, so there’s a bunch of things going on.

I haven’t lived in Ottawa before and I’m just trying to keep level-headed about it.

When and where were you the happiest?

I think right now. I’m living my dream, making the best out of life, working a good job and flying around Nunavut.

Which talent would you like to have that you don’t already have?

I think I would like to learn how to play a bass guitar.

I do already have a bass but I have not used it, and I would definitely love to be able to play songs with good bass lines and solos.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I think it would be my lifestyle. Eating healthier, going to the gym. I guess I want to set a weekly routine for myself, but obviously with my schedule it varies.

Where would you like to live?

Maybe New Zealand? It has really nice cliff edges. Somewhere with great scenery.

I’m not saying that Nunavut doesn’t have great scenery, but I want to see more.

What is your greatest regret?

I’m pretty socially awkward and I definitely want to change that. So I think that would be one of my bigger regrets.

Not being as social.

Once in front of God, what would you tell him?

I guess I would be asking him why he doesn’t supposedly care as much about the Third World countries.

They are places like Gaza right now, they’re experiencing terrible turmoil. Why isn’t he doing something?

In North America, we have terrible situations but they’re not life-ending.

Nunatsiaq News is borrowing the old Proust Questionnaire parlour game to get to know people who are in the news. If you know someone in your community who our readers should get to know by taking this questionnaire, let us know by email: editors@nunatsiaq.com.