Two vice-president candidates square off in Makivvik election Thursday

Incumbent Andy Moorhouse faces challenger Eyetsiak Papigatuk in race to win 3-year term

Challenger Eyetsiak Papigatuk, left, faces incumbent Andy Moorhouse in Thursday’s election for Makivvik vice-president of economic development. (Photos courtesy of Facebook)

By Cedric Gallant - Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Two candidates hope to be elected vice-president of economic development at Makivvik Corp. when Nunavik beneficiaries vote Thursday.

Incumbent Andy Moorhouse will face challenger Eyetsiak Papigatuk in the race for one of the vice-presidential positions at Makivvik, the legal representative for Nunavik’s Inuit.

From 2010 to 2016, Moorhouse was corporate secretary at Makivvik. Then in 2016 he was elected to a three-year term as the organization’s vice-president of economic development.

He was elected a second time in 2022, taking more than 50 per cent of votes cast.

“We have a lot of initiatives that are on the go, and I wanted to make sure I went towards getting another term to ensure that we complete those initiatives,” Moorhouse said in a phone interview.

One priority, he said, is a new procurement policy “to ensure that we properly recognize our Inuit businesses within the region.”

“We really put a lot of effort into ensuring [we get] this policy in place and ensuring that we properly consult the region and make sure that they understand what this policy entails,” he said. Moorhouse said he expects a final draft should be presented at the Makivvik annual general meeting in April.

He hopes to renew the economic and community development agreement with the Quebec government, which funds community improvements. Moorhouse also wants to improve Nunavik airport landing strips and develop a Landholding Corporations Development Fund.

His challenger, Eyetsiak Papigatuk, is originally from Salluit but now lives in Puvirnituq. He is the son of Putulik Papigatuk, a signatory of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, the 1975 agreement between the Quebec government and Indigenous groups that expressed the right Inuit and other Indigenous groups in northern Quebec, to self-government.

Papigatuk said he wants to create more Inuit jobs by working with organizations like the Kativik Regional Government, Kativik Ilisarniliriniq and both hospitals.

“I want to implement the Inuit way of life more than the Qallunaat way of life,” he said in a phone interview.

Papigatuk said he also wants to help develop small businesses in Nunavik.

“I see no results on economic development other than the organizations that Makivvik created like the fisheries, the airlines and the construction companies,” he said.

Another goal is to develop more family houses in communities, such as the Puvirnituq family house which he said helps the community.

“If people don’t have any clothing, they provide second-hand clothing. When people don’t have nothing to eat, people can go eat there. This helps a lot locally,” he said.

Voting Thursday runs from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Eligible voters can vote online, or in person. Voters will also elect a new Makivvik corporate secretary that day.

 

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(9) Comments:

  1. Posted by Nunavimiuk on

    I hope , that , we get ”PAID” to go vote , like they did up in nunavut.

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    • Posted by Really? on

      I’m from Nunavik and I disagree to this. We are all adults and should stop depending too much. Didn’t we just receive meat from Makivvik? Maybe that is our bonus? lol

      10
  2. Posted by Jebadiah on

    I would like to know how family houses in communities that provide clothing or food is an economic opportunity? Seems to me this would be more of a social project and not within the realm of economic and/or business development.

    How will Mr. Papigatuk create more jobs by simply working with KI, KRG and the hospitals? Postings after postings are always present and yet folks don’t apply or don’t last.

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    • Posted by Bluffy St. Marie on

      It’s comical how words like ‘investment’ and ‘economic opportunity’ are used in the north, very often to mean exactly as you say, social projects. Do you think are fooling anyone? Or, maybe they are?

    • Posted by Nunavimiuk on

      I ll vote for Andy only if he plans to ” MAKE NUNAVIK GREAT AGAIN ” like you know who.

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  3. Posted by Nunavik on

    We were promised piped waters and sewers 3 years ago. We haven’t seen any agreements about that yet. Let alone meeting with ministries. And who wants dog races for women? We are already struggling with sending our children to school on foot with all the loose dogs bred by mushers.

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