{"id":650504,"date":"2026-05-06T01:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/650504\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T01:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T01:17:13","slug":"okalik-eegeesiak-wants-to-put-nti-initiatives-on-the-publics-radar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/650504\/","title":{"rendered":"Okalik Eegeesiak wants to put NTI initiatives on the public\u2019s radar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Qikiqtani Inuit Association president running to lead Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.<\/p>\n

Nunatsiaq News is publishing profiles of the 10 candidates in Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.\u2019s May 27 presidential byelection.<\/p>\n

A longtime leader in Nunavut feels she\u2019s got the right stuff for the top job at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people see me as a grounded person. People believe when I say I work for the betterment of Inuit and Inuit communities,\u201d Okalik Eegeesiak said of why people should vote her in NTI\u2019s presidential byelection, which is set for May 27.<\/p>\n

Eegeesiak is one of 10 people running<\/a> to lead NTI, the organization responsible for ensuring obligations made to Nunavut Inuit under the Nunavut Agreement are upheld. The byelection was called to fill the vacancy created by Jeremy Tunraluk, who resigned in January.<\/p>\n

Eegeesiak is based in Iqaluit. She described herself as an experienced facilitator, moderator and long-time advocate for Inuit and northern communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that would be good for not just Inuit but Nunavut in general,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She pointed to what she sees as a lack of communication between NTI and beneficiaries, which she says her skills could help solve.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIf Inuit feel they are not hearing enough about NTI, how does one fix that? How do I fix that,\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Eegeesiak has worn many hats throughout her long career. In the early 2000s, she was president of Tapirisat of Canada, now known as Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. <\/p>\n

She also served two terms as president of Qikiqtani Inuit Association, starting in 2009. <\/p>\n

Five years later, in 2014, she was appointed international Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council. The Arctic Council \u2014 an Inuit Circumpolar Council forum made up of representatives of the world\u2019s eight Arctic nations \u2014 was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> during Eegeesiak\u2019s tenure, for its efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eegeesiak ran to be MLA of the Iqaluit-Manirajak riding in 2017, but lost to Adam Arreak Lightstone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The resiliency and contribution of Inuit women has been a particular focus for Eegeesiak as well. In 2023, she sailed Sir John Franklin\u2019s Northwest Passage route<\/a> with an all-female crew, stopping in Arctic communities to document how women supported historic Arctic explorers.<\/p>\n

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

Eegeesiak has volunteered with the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation since 2018. She is currently on leave from her job as a senior consultant at NVision Insight Group, a national Indigenous consultancy firm.<\/p>\n

As for specific goals, Eegeesiak said she will spend the campaign period focusing on determining what her constituents\u2019 issues and aspirations are.<\/p>\n

She said she wants to return pride to Nunavummiut and focus on the original intent of the Nunavut Agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get Inuit working, to get Inuit into business and to get Inuktut into schools,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Qikiqtani Inuit Association president running to lead Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. Nunatsiaq News is publishing profiles of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-650504","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\/650504","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=650504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}