Nikki Komaksiutiksak takes over as Pauktuutit president, CEO

The national organization representing Inuit women is undergoing a leadership change at the top.

Nikki Komaksiutiksak was named as the new president and CEO of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada on Tuesday.

In her professional life, Komaksiutiksak. 41, has always worked in some capacity for non-profit Indigenous organizations. She founded Tunngasugit Inuit Resource Centre in Winnipeg, a non-profit supporting the city’s urban Inuit with social services, classes, housing and employment.

“We started off, five and a half years ago, with one staff,” she said in an interview Thursday. “Five and a half years later, 28 staff with programs and services for all Inuit of all ages, different genders, and just really giving space for Inuit to feel like they were a part of a community.”

Her childhood story growing up is sadly familiar among Inuit. She said her whole family — uncles, aunts, her mother — are residential school survivors.

Rosemary Cooper, the outgoing president of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada, says she is proud of the progress the organization made during her tenure.
(Photo courtesy of Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada)

“Any Inuk that you meet, they have gone through some sort of intergenerational trauma,” she said, noting the first residential school in what would later be Nunavut opened in her home community of Chesterfield Inlet.

“You can imagine the tremendous amount of atrocities that transpired within my family as a result of how close [the school was].”

When she was three years old, her father died. Her mother, struggling with her own trauma, was unable to take care of her so when Komaksiutiksak was six years old she moved to Winnipeg to live with her aunt and other relatives.

The family were throat singers and travelled all over the world.

“Educating folks about our people that really no one knew about,” she said.

“Behind closed doors, though, we lived in really treacherous moments of abuse.”

She said her aunt was abusive, so when Komaksiutiksak turned 13, she ran away and ended up in the child welfare system.

At 15, she had her first child. Two more followed. By 19, she was raising three children by herself. At 21, she went back to school to study inner-city social work and continued to work multiple jobs at the same time.

Komaksiutiksak said she is excited about taking on a new role at the national organization, which officially started Wednesday.

As the new president and CEO, she replaces Rosemary Cooper, originally from Iqaluit, who was Pauktuutit’s first Inuk CEO and spent nine years there, the first two as a political adviser.

“Rosemary’s vision has been deeply rooted in her experiences as an Inuk woman and those of her community,” Pauktuutit’s news release on Tuesday said.

A highlight for Cooper has been Pauktuutit’s evolution from an organization focused on programming and education to broadening its portfolios into public policy, research, data collection, economic development, justice, and prevention of violence and abuse.

Cooper said her only immediate plans are to relax: “I’m not one to sit around, so I’m sure I’ll find something to do.”

She is particularly proud of the completion of Pauktuutit’s five-year strategic plan.

“I’m really very happy to have worked with everyone,” Cooper said. “I think it takes a lot of teamwork. We had a lot of staff come and go and board members. So really thankful for everyone that has created the strategic plan and where Pauktuutit is at this juncture.”