{"id":653198,"date":"2026-05-07T06:44:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T06:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/653198\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T06:44:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T06:44:33","slug":"paul-irngaut-prioritizes-elders-hunters-and-housing-in-nti-presidential-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/653198\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Irngaut prioritizes elders, hunters and housing in NTI presidential bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elected vice-president in 2022, longtime Inuit organization leader touts experience as he seeks top job<\/p>\n

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

In his bid to ascend to the Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. presidency, Paul Irngaut is prioritizing elders\u2019 and hunters\u2019 benefits, as well as advancing the organization\u2019s role in housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that I can be effective and make changes for Inuit when it comes to discussions that affect them in the North,\u201d Irngaut, 66, said in an interview Monday.<\/p>\n

Irngaut first started at NTI in 2000. He worked in the organization\u2019s wildlife and communications departments and as a liaison with the executive. In 2022, he was elected vice-president.<\/p>\n

He has been acting president since December last year, when Jeremy Tunraluk went on leave and resigned as president a month later, triggering the May 27 byelection.<\/p>\n

Irngaut \u2014 who grew up in Igloolik but has spent the last three decades in Iqaluit \u2014 was also a TV reporter for CBC News for 10 years.<\/p>\n

As part of his presidential campaign, Irngaut is promising reviews every five years of who is eligible and how much money NTI provides to elders as part of the Uqqujjait Innarnut pension program.<\/p>\n

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

During the board\u2019s meeting in March of this year, the program was expanded to elders born on or before Dec. 31, 1961. The monthly payout to recipients was increased to $250.<\/p>\n

Irngaut is also calling to increase funding for hunters, which NTI pays the three regional Inuit organizations in Nunavut to administer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you really look at it, the hunters provide a lot of [food] for the communities, and they\u2019re not getting paid,\u201d Irngaut said. \u201cThe support that we provide for them has to increase with the cost of living in the North.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irngaut also envisions expanding NTI\u2019s role in building and providing affordable housing through Igluvut Corp.,\u00a0the not-for-profit housing entity it established last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we built the houses and we start renting it to [Inuit] at a much lower rate, they can keep their jobs, and that incentive is that they will work, they will contribute,\u201d Irngaut said. \u201cIf people can start at a lower rent, and in the future start owning their homes, it can only benefit Inuit in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irngaut acknowledges that there are 10 \u201cvery good candidates\u201d in the race.<\/p>\n

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

He says what sets him apart is his experience with NTI along with his record of successful collaboration with the Government of Nunavut, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the federal government.<\/p>\n

If Irngaut does not win this byelection, he says he will return to the vice-president role until that term ends in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always worked for Inuit and I will always work for Inuit,\u201d Irngaut said. \u201cPeople should understand that I have the best interests at heart.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elected vice-president in 2022, longtime Inuit organization leader touts experience as he seeks top job Nunatsiaq News is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-653198","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\/653198","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=653198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}