With Ottawa poised to spend big in Arctic, former Nunavut premier pivots to private sector
P.J. Akeeagok discusses the North’s potential at prospectors conference in Toronto
P.J. Ageeagok speaks with panel moderator Sharon Singh Monday at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto. (Photo by Sam Laskaris, special to Nunatsiaq News)
Former Nunavut premier P.J. Akeeagok wants to see Canada “unlock” the potential of the Arctic, and appears to be positioning himself in post-political life as one of the key holders in this venture.
He wants to see money flow, he said, into projects led by Inuit, for Inuit.
“It starts with them owning the projects so that we [can] move as quickly as we can,” Akeeagok said during a panel discussion Monday at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto.
“But it does require Canada to come and to really unlock that potential by investing in that space.”
Akeeagok was one of nine presenters in a panel discussion called Getting Major Projects Built in Canada: Regulations, Responsibilities and Reconciliation.
He served as premier of Nunavut from 2021 to 2025.
Instead of running for a second term in territorial government, Akeeagok moved to the private sector in November 2025 by founding Arctic Strategies, a consulting firm that guides proponents through regulatory processes and negotiations with Inuit governments.
Akeeagok used his time during the panel discussion to praise Prime Minister Mark Carney’s federal government for prioritizing Arctic development.
This renewed urgency to protect Canada’s security and sovereignty in the North stems from threats made by U.S. President Donald Trump over the past year. Trump has mused about Canada becoming the 51st state, launched a trade war against Canada and the rest of the world, and has made threats to take over Greenland.
Carney caught attention in January by delivering an address to the World Economic Forum, putting Canada forth as a leader of the world’s “intermediate powers” in the face of a “rupture” in the old world order.
To do this, part of Carney’s plan is to build — and the Arctic has no shortage of infrastructure needs.
Ottawa is poised to spend more $6 billion on an advanced radar system for missile defence and $2.7 billion on military support hubs in Iqaluit, Yellowknife and Whitehorse.
Carney has also earmarked $50 million to build Inuit Nunangat University in Arviat and $250 million for Nunavut housing builds.
A proposed $500-million hydroelectric plant in Iqaluit is one of 13 projects sitting on Carney’s nation-building project list, meaning it could receive regulatory help from the federal government’s new Major Projects Office. There is an expectation that the federal government will provide at least some funding for this project.
“We’ve never seen this level of attention given to the Arctic,” Akeeagok said, adding some detail about what he sees as Nunavut’s place in the nation-building puzzle.
“When Confederation was built, and you look across this beautiful country of ours, you got railways, you got highways, you got deepsea ports, you got small craft harbours from coast to coast,” he said.
“But the third coast, the Arctic, has been forgotten. And I think we’re at that moment, and it’s an incredible moment that we’re in, in terms of what we’re able to do as a country to unlock our true potential.”
The Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference opened Sunday and continues through Wednesday.
The company website is priceless. Basically Peej taking credit for every positive development to happen in Nunavut over the last decade+. The elders bus project seems to have been left on the cutting room floor 🤣. God help us all, we are doomed if this gets any traction. Basically monetizing his political contacts and insider status for personal gain. This is so Trump Meets North of North.
This is how politics has always been done. Federal and provincial politicians, especially if they had cabinet portfolio, retire from their seats and then the next you hear is they’ve been appointed to directorships on various boards. Or they become lobbyists. Some would say that’s the true reward of public service. And the real reason some enter public service.
Trump-like would mean capitalizing for personal gain while in office. What PJ is doing is what nearly all political figures do after leaving politics, the more connected they once were the better.
That’s a bit of a stretch, to say Trump of the north, PJ as his time as premier did very little to push private sector development, now he is waving the flag, he will soon see how difficult it is to do business in Nunavut, and hopefully will help, but time will tell.
Good old photo-op PJ should consider himself fortunate that most people either, a) Have very short memories or, b) Don’t care.
It will be interesting to see how intact his self-proclaimed “successes” remain once the new government begins having to have to dig its way out from him and the past governments failures with the Housing debacle, Health Care and Social Services crisis, in Education and the Food Security crisis.
Likely any business he gets will be work from the new government or businesses seeking to get an inside track to his past and present political friends. Either way, he will quickly learn that what passes in the public sector does not pass in the private sector. They have things called results and accountability.
For many, the public sector in the north is really just a stepping stone for a lucrative private sector endeavor
Not just in the north, this is common everywhere.
I always thought there were rules forbidding politicians from lobbying for public monies for a period of time.
Am I mistaken?
There is a six month restricted period for ministers for gn government plus the usual stuff around use of confidential info.
integritycom.nu.ca
My thoughts exactly. He has insider information from being Premier. There should be a cooling off period similar to deputy minsters which is 12 months.
NN seems to act as official media in the North for the LPC. I’m curious to know if its costs are paid by the LPC directly or by Canadian taxpayers
Nunavut needs to expand the private sector. Is he consulting for QC for the Qik Port or for Grays Bay? or a some sort of private Inuit firm? Hard to get information on his company website. I looked at the Inuit Firm Registry and cannot find useful info. Good luck though, he might do better in the private sector vs public sector.