Nunatsiaq News is publishing riding profiles ahead of the Oct. 27 territorial election. Keep your eye on our website to learn more about who is running in your area.
Two candidates are vying to become MLA for the constituency of Uqqummiut, which represents Nunavummiut living in Qikiqtarjuaq and Clyde River.
Incumbent Mary Killiktee is from Qikiqtarjuaq. She is being challenged for the seat by Gordon Kautuk, who hails from Clyde River.
Kautuk declined a request for an interview, stating he is currently attending to the needs of his wife who is recovering from surgery in Ottawa.
He is a councillor in Clyde River, acclaimed in 2023. No other information about his platform could be found.
Killiktee was first elected MLA in 2021.
She has had a long career in politics and community service. She was first elected mayor of Qikiqtarjuaq in 2012 and served for eight years. She has been a member of the housing association, worked with Qikiqtaaluk Business Development Corp. and served as president of Qikiqtaaluk Corp.
The housing crisis is a priority, she said, adding she feels she has the “voice to continue” advocating for housing needs in Nunavut.
She said homelessness is reaching crisis levels.
“It hurts to see [people] having no place to live except in a shelter,” Killiktee said, adding she feels there needs to be investment in infrastructure in smaller communities and the rest of Nunavut.
There is currently no shelter in Qikiqtarjuaq or Clyde River. Killiktee said she would like to see one built in each. A four-bedroom facility in each community would be enough, she said, especially in times of extreme need like the winter.
Killiktee said she would like to see a more collaborative approach between different levels of government and the Nunavut Housing Corp. on providing homes, noting there are many vacant houses in both hamlets that could be renovated and repurposed.
She also pointed to elder care as a priority, stating if she is elected she will continue to push to help elders age at home.
While she said she supports the GN’s recent move to be build elder care facilities in each of Nunavut’s three regions, she thinks more should be done to bring elders closer to their homes.
For example, she said, she is calling for a way to provide home support for elders who might be able to stay in their home communities if they had that level of care.
Those who are sent out are “hurting,” she said, and want to come back home.
“Our elders are longing to come back to their communities, their homes, their family, their grandkids, their great-grandkids,” she said.
Killiktee has been married for more than 40 years. She has two children and two granddaughters.
