{"id":724775,"date":"2026-06-09T08:20:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/724775\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T08:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:20:23","slug":"father-of-nunavut-to-return-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/724775\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Father of Nunavut\u2019 to return home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"byline\"><a class=\"category news\" href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Jun 8, 2026 \u2013 5:27 pm EDT<\/p>\n<p class=\"subhead\">Key figure in the creation of Nunavut has been working to return to the territory for 3 months <\/p>\n<p>                                                    <a class=\"thumbnail\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/simon-9-1.jpg\" title=\"\u2018Father of Nunavut\u2019 to return home\"><br \/>\n                                <img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1596\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/simon-9-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-post-image\" title=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\"  \/>                            <\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Amagoalik, centre, plans to return to Nunavut after spending 16 months living at an elder care facility in Ottawa. Amagoalik is seen here with<br \/>\nformer Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and her husband Whit Fraser, after she presented Amagoalik with the Order of Canada in 2024. (Photo courtesy of Sgt. Anis Assari\/Rideau Hall)<\/p>\n<p class=\"author\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/author\/jorge-maria-antunes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t Jorge Antunes<\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">John Amagoalik, widely known as the \u201cFather of Nunavut,\u201d is returning to the territory after having spent the last 16 months at an elder care home in Ottawa.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">He is scheduled to fly back to Iqaluit on Friday, according to a joint news release from Anne Crawford, Steve Keilliher and Mark Stiles, three of Amagoalik\u2019s longtime friends who have been facilitating the move for three months.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">\u201cThe group has raised funds to cover the cost of a comprehensive plan of care for John and his wife, Evie, medical equipment and supplies and support services over the short term,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">Nunatsiaq News tried to reach Amagoalik on Monday for an interview, but he was unavailable.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">\u00a0Amagoalik has been living at the Embassy West Senior Living facility in Ottawa since spring 2025.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">He played an integral role in the creation of Nunavut and chaired the Nunavut Implementation Commission, the 10-member organization that outlined what eventually became Nunavut\u2019s government, which came to fruition on April 1, 1999.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">In the 1980s, he served two terms as president of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, which became Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and was co-chair of the Inuit Committee on National Issues and the Nunavut Constitutional Forum.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nunatsiaq.com\/ads\/260529-aaqiiq-theatre\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"373\" height=\"331\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/260529.100.95.png\" class=\"no-lazy-load wp-post-image\" title=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">In 1999, he received the Legion of Honour, France\u2019s highest order of merit that was established in 1802 by Napoleon. In 2014, he received the Order of Nunavut. Five years later, he received the Order of Canada from Mary Simon, an Inuk leader herself and the first Indigenous person to serve as governor general.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News\u00a0\u00a0Jun 8, 2026 \u2013 5:27 pm EDT Key figure in the creation of Nunavut has been working to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-724775","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\/724775","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=724775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}