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Let’s Move On
Paul Okalik Speaks Out
Pangnirtung, where Paul Okalik was born, has survived starvation, epidemics, relocation, foreign language schooling, and confrontation with the Canadian justice system. That is what prompted Paul to work to improve the living conditions of the Inuit. He was called to the Bar in 1999 and then elected the first Premier of Nunavut.
Though Nunavut was a reality, attaining full self-government would be a work in progress. Inuit needed education and training to become decision-makers. Ten distant communities spread over a vast territory required new infrastructures, affordable housing, and a decentralized civil service where Inuit would take the reins.Inuit employment in government did exceed 50 percent, yet the Inuit account for 85 percent of the population.
Let’s move on is an expression of determination inherited from generations of Inuit, who have also faced colonialism. Paul Okalik’s idea is to move forward with hope and confidence, despite frustrations. His is a story of personal and political courage. But it is also that of the creation of a government in a Canadian jurisdiction with an indigenous majority, a dream for which Louis Riel and eight Cree leaders hanged more than 100 years earlier!
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Contributors
Paul Okalik
Paul Okalik was born in Pangnirtung, on Baffin Island, Nunavut. After being called to the Northwest Territories bar, he served as Premier of the Government of Nunavut from 1999 to 2008. Since then, he has held cabinet positions in charge of several ministries including Justice, Culture and Heritage, Qulliq Energy Corporation, Immigration, Labour, Languages, and the Liquor Licensing Board.
Louis McComber
Louis McComber lived in Iqaluit, Nunavut, from 1993 to 2005 and quickly became captivated by the process of the creation of Nunavut, the third Canadian Arctic territory. He was a journalist for the French-language weekly l’Aquilon and the CBC North Boréal Hebdo radio show, and wrote a bi-monthly column of political and cultural commentary in Nunatsiaq News. Louis McComber holds an MA in anthropology and has recently lectured in the First Peoples’ program at the University du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
