{"id":432670,"date":"2026-01-25T17:28:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/432670\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T17:28:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:28:24","slug":"4-people-eyeing-run-for-ntis-presidency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/432670\/","title":{"rendered":"4 people eyeing run for NTI\u2019s presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"

The race to be the next president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. is already shaping up, close to a year before Nunavut beneficiaries will go to the polls.<\/p>\n

So far, four potential candidates are thinking of running.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seriously thought about it, and I am planning to run,\u201d Andrew Nakashuk said in a phone interview Friday.<\/p>\n

The Pangnirtung resident ran for the position in 2021 and again in 2024, losing first to Aluki Kotierk and then to Jeremy Tunraluk.<\/p>\n

The presidency of NTI \u2014 the organization that ensures promises made under the Nunavut Agreement are carried out \u2014 became vacant after Tunraluk resigned Wednesday following a period of unpaid leave as he was facing an assault charge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At Tunraluk\u2019s first court appearance, on Jan. 15, the Crown\u00a0stayed<\/a>\u00a0the charge. A stay halts the prosecution of a criminal charge, but the Crown can choose to resume prosecution within a year of entering a stay.<\/p>\n

The NTI board of directors voted unanimously<\/a> to recommend Tunraluk\u2019s removal as he \u201cfailed to meet the high standards of conduct expected of Inuit leaders,\u201d the organization\u2019s communications director Ivaluarjuk Merritt said.<\/p>\n

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

On Wednesday, Tunraluk announced his resignation.<\/p>\n

Vice-president Paul Irngaut is serving as president in the interim until a new president is elected.<\/p>\n

Tunraluk, who was elected<\/a> to a four-year term as president in December 2024, criticized NTI\u2019s administration for \u201cgetting rid of him\u201d and vowed<\/a> to run in the December byelection.<\/p>\n

The 11-month wait until the byelection is \u201ctoo far,\u201d said Cathy Towtongie, a former MLA and NTI president. She said Friday she is thinking about whether to run.<\/p>\n

In the 2024 presidential election, she finished second behind Tunraluk in a four-person race.<\/p>\n

The lengthy wait until the byelection will unfairly benefit Irngaut if he chooses to seek the presidency, Towtongie said.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt will give the vice-president, who\u2019s acting as the president, time to campaign across Nunavut on NTI funds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The date of the byelection was determined by the board of directors and coincides with scheduled elections for the two vice-president positions. NTI election rules don\u2019t specify when a byelection must be called after the president\u2019s seat becomes vacant.<\/p>\n

Irngaut couldn\u2019t be reached for comment Friday on whether he plans to run in the presidential byelection.<\/p>\n

Former MLA Manitok Thompson said she agrees the byelection should have been scheduled for an earlier date.<\/p>\n

Thompson said she is thinking about putting her name forward to run.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m just putting feelers out now, so I have to observe what the political environment is first,\u201d she said in a Facebook message Friday.<\/p>\n

An NTI representative couldn\u2019t be reached for comment Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The race to be the next president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. is already shaping up, close to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-432670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432670","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=432670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}