{"id":312968,"date":"2025-11-28T20:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/312968\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T20:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:32:09","slug":"rebecca-mike-remembered-as-public-servant-talented-linguist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/312968\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca Mike remembered as public servant, talented linguist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Mike, a former MLA and longtime Inuktitut translator, is remembered as a leader since an early age, her brother and MLA Johnny Mike says. (Photo courtesy of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

Former MLA, translator died Nov. 14 at age 73<\/p>\n

Rebecca Mike, a former Nunavut politician and Inuktitut translator, has died at age 73.<\/p>\n

She died surrounded by family members in Ottawa on Nov. 14 following health issues that came up a month prior, said her brother and Pangnirtung MLA Johnny Mike.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was always ahead of us,\u201d Johnny Mike said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe guided us, especially me in [the] political world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebecca Mike was the oldest of 12 siblings, Johnny Mike said. Growing up in an outpost camp, he described his older sister as being a leader from a young age who was \u201calways there\u201d when anybody needed help.<\/p>\n

After attending residential school, she went on to work as an Inuktitut translator and was involved in the Nunavut land claims negotiations.<\/p>\n

In 1991, she was elected to the Northwest Territories legislature as MLA for Baffin Central \u2014 a riding that represented Clyde River, Qikiqtarjuaq and her home community of Pangnirtung \u2014 and would land a seat in cabinet. She did not win re-election in 1995.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI looked up to her a lot of times because I started to get involved with the politics too,\u201d Johnny Mike said.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Mike continued to work as a translator and advocated for Inuit language after leaving office.<\/p>\n

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. remembered her as a \u201ctalented linguist\u201d and \u201ctrusted translator\u201d the organization could rely on, in a statement about her death.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Mike also worked with the Uqqummiut Inuit Artists Association, was on the Legal Services Board of Nunavut\u2019s board of directors, and more recently was former premier P.J. Akeeagok\u2019s constituency assistant in his Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu office.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have been a steady hand and a kind voice that so many relied on, and I\u2019m deeply grateful that I got to work with you,\u201d Akeeagok said Sept. 18, recognizing Rebecca Mike in his final member\u2019s statement in the legislature.<\/p>\n

Beyond her work, Rebecca Mike was a mother and grandmother. Johnny Mike also described her as someone who helped people who were struggling with food insecurity.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was like a workaholic, and she enjoyed her life,\u201d Johnny Mike said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I know that she was a 100 per cent Inuk who was fighting for Inuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

A funeral for Rebecca Mike was held in Iqaluit earlier this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rebecca Mike, a former MLA and longtime Inuktitut translator, is remembered as a leader since an early age,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-312968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}