The candidates: Kugluktuk

Bordered on three sides by the Northwest Territories, the Kugluktuk electoral district is the westernmost in Nunavut. Kugluktuk, Nunavut's most westerly community (pop. 1,517,) is predominantly Inuinnait. 

Only six per cent of people in Kugluktuk still speak Inuinnaqtun, a distinct dialect of Inuktitut, which has largely disappeared from daily life.

COVID-19 has put a stop to many exploration projects, although there is renewed interest around the Grays Bay Road and Port Project.

Among the recurrent community issues are youth vandalism as well as the quality of education in the community's two schools.

In this constituency, Bobby Anavilok, Angele Kuliktana and Genevieve Nivingalok are challenging the incumbent Calvin Aivgak Pedersen.

CBC has reached out to all candidates with a list of questions in Inuktut and English, as well as consulted candidates' own online campaign messages. The available information has been edited for length and clarity.

Bobby Anavilok

Bobby Anavilok was born in Starvation Cove and raised around Cambridge Bay, Bathurst Inlet, the Contwoyto Lakes area and Kugluktuk.

He attended Grade 12 but "unfortunately I did not graduate due to not returning to school after my father died in 1982."

Anavilok worked in the Beaufort Sea on oil rigs in the late 1980s, and underground at the Lupin Gold Mine until the early 1990s. He's been a self-employed carver for more than 26 years.

He has also been involved in arts and culture groups and organizations from the 1990s until the present. He speaks and writes Inuinnaqtun.

"I want to help my community with a strong voice and the community/esteem, health care and housing, also strengthen knowledge on land use and habitat protection for wildlife due to global warming and industrial development," he said.

The biggest issues in his community he said are mental health care, family and elder care, housing and house improvements.

He would be willing to serve in cabinet "to help all the communities of Nunavut."

He also said he would serve as premier "if the opportunity arises. To refuse it is to reject help to all Nunavummiut."

Angele Kuliktana

Angele Kuliktana said she is running because she wants to be a voice for Kugluktuk. 

"I want to be a support for Kugluktukmiut and work together to improve our community," she said in a social media campaign message.

Kuliktana said she has contributed to address housing issues and would work on improving educational facilities.

"We must strengthen access to cultural knowledge, healthy living options and equitable food costs for Inuit in Nunavut. I want to create meaningful relationships with the community and government," she said.

Kuliktana said she's played an active role in local governance, serving on the hamlet council of Kugluktuk, its housing association, district education authority and co-op board.

She said she would lobby for more homes for Kugluktuk and seek support for homeowners who can no longer keep their homes due to old age, being widowed or as a result of illness.

She also said she would lobby for a middle school in the community and immersion programs in Inuinnaqtun. 

"Our language specialists need to be trained in the new Inuinnaqtun writing system, then they too can help preserve our language," said Kuliktana who can speak, read and write in Inuinnaqtun and English fluently.

Genevieve Nivingalok 

Genevieve Nivingalok was born in Yellowknife and raised in Kugluktuk.

A graduate of the Kugluktuk High School 2002 and an ENTEP Training/Workshop 2006-07, Nivingalok has worked as a caseworker for the Department of Justice, a community justice outreach worker for the hamlet and as a receptionist/medical travel clerk for the Department of Health.

Currently employed by the Government of Nunavut's Family Services Department, she has also served on the boards of the district of education authority, alcohol education committee, justice committee and heritage committee.

Nivigalok said she is running to be the voice of her community. 

Her goals are to find ways to reduce poverty and homelessness, improve access to adequate health care and mental health and address overcrowding in housing.

The biggest issues for Nunavut in this election she said include the lack of long term facilities in communities for residents and seniors, the high cost of living, the lack of housing and the need for more basic job training for the unemployed.

She said she would serve in the cabinet if the opportunity presented itself but not as premier.

Calvin Aivgak Pedersen

Calvin Pedersen was elected by acclamation in July of 2020 to represent the constituency of Kugluktuk after MLA Mila Kamingoak resigned.

Before that, he was employed by Polar Knowledge Canada as a field technician.

His previous jobs include positions as a program officer at the Department of Economic Development and Transportation and an operations and programs supervisor at the Department of Justice.

Pedersen has been a community volunteer with search and rescue and has served with the Canadian Rangers.

His father, Red Pedersen, served the constituents of Kitikmeot West in the Northwest Territories legislature for two terms, from 1983 to 1991.

If elected, Pedersen's goals include better vaccination rates, and improvements to the health care system overall, both in- and out-of-territory. 

He would also like to see improved elder care as well as more and better housing.

Among his goals in education and employment, Pedersen said he would like to build a working relationship with new mining companies in the area and increased training to prepare local people for higher level employment in the mining industry.

"We have strong, capable Inuit ready to gain experience through training on the job to further their careers in our community," he said in a social media post.

He is interested in a role in cabinet.