Order of Nunavut's first recipients named

Inuit leader Jose Kusugak, author Mark Kalluak, and longtime Anglican minister Rev. Michael Gardener have been named the first members of the Order of Nunavut.

Legislative assembly Speaker Hunter Tootoo, who chairs the Order of Nunavut Advisory Council, announced the appointments on Wednesday.

"It is appropriate that the first appointments to the Order of Nunavut recognize three exceptionally distinguished individuals," Tootoo said in a release.

An investiture ceremony will take place this fall, at a date to be determined.

The families of Kusugak and Kalluak, who both passed away earlier this year, will accept the honour on their behalf, according to the advisory council.

Kusugak, who was 60 when he died Jan. 18 following a battle with bladder cancer, was a longtime defender of Inuit rights, language and culture in Canada.

He was president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. from 1994 to 2000, leading the organization as it began implementing the historic Inuit land claim that created Nunavut in 1999.

Kusugak then served from 2000 to 2006 as president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Canada's national Inuit organization.

Kalluak an Inuit language expert

Kalluak, a well-known Inuit storyteller and teacher from Arviat, Nunavut, was the territorial government's cultural heritage coordinator when he passed away in May. He was approximately 69 years old.

Kalluak was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1990 for his expertise in the Inuktitut language and his contributions to the Inuit language, literature and culture.

His literary works include Unipkaaqtuat Arvianit: Traditional Stories from Arviat, a collection of Inuit stories told in Inuktitut and English.

Gardener, who is in his 80s, received the Order of Canada in 2006 for his lifelong commitment to people in the Northwest Territories and what is now Nunavut.

Gardener came north as an Anglican missionary in the 1950s and has stayed there ever since, along with his wife, Margaret, and their children.

Currently retired as an Anglican minister, Gardener lives in Iqaluit with his family and continues to provide pastoral care to those in crisis.

Established last year, the Order of Nunavut is the territory's highest honour and recognizes people who have made "outstanding contributions to the cultural, social or economic well-being" of the territory, according to the release.

The Order of Nunavut Advisory Council consists of legislative assembly speaker, the senior judge of the Nunavut Court of Justice, and the president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.