On Friday, more than 30 years later, she watched that same boy sworn in as the legislature member who will be premier of Nunavut.
“They would have to bribe him out of school,” she said. “He just wanted to learn. It made him happy.” The 37-year-old is a first-time Nunavut MLA, representing one of four Iqaluit constituencies in the legislative assembly, but he isn’t new to politics. He served for seven years as president of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, an organization that represents Inuit in the Baffin Island region.
As premier, Akeeagok will face a long list of issues, including Nunavut’s ongoing housing crisis. The territory needs 3,000 additional public housing units.
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