Jack Anawak

Jack Iyerak Anawak
ᔭᒃ ᐃᐊᕋᒃ ᐊᓇᕙᒃ
Member of Parliament for Nunatsiaq
In office
1988–1997
Preceded by Thomas Suluk
Succeeded by Nancy Karetak-Lindell
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
In office
1999–2004
Preceded by first member
Succeeded by Tagak Curley
Constituency Rankin Inlet North
Personal details
Born September 26, 1950
Repulse Bay
Political party Liberal (as MP)
non-partisan consensus government (as MLA)

Jack Iyerak Anawak (born September 26, 1950 in Repulse Bay, Northwest Territories) is a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Nunatsiaq in the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 to 1997. He sat in the house as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. Following his retirement from federal politics, he also served a term in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut after that territory was created in 1999.

Political career

Federal politics

Anawak was first elected in the 1988 election, and served as the Liberal Party's opposition critic for Northern Affairs in the 34th Canadian Parliament. Re-elected in the 1993 election, which was won by the Liberals, he was named parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in the government of Jean Chrétien.

Territorial politics

In 1999 he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, but did not run for re-election in 2004.

Anawak attempted to run for a seat in the 2008 Nunavut general election. He filed nomination papers to run in the electoral district of Akulliq but was denied as a candidate by Elections Nunavut Chief Electoral Officer Sandy Kusugak as he was not a full-time resident of Nunavut at the time his nomination papers were filed. Anawak took Elections Nunavut to court over and managed to halt the election in that district.[1]

The case is currently before the Nunavut Court of Appeal, where the judge will decide whether or not to strike down the current election residency laws.[1]

Popular culture

When the Canadian two-dollar coin was introduced, a number of nicknames were suggested. Jack Anawak proposed the name "Nanuq" [nanook, polar bear] in honour of Canada's Inuit people and their northern culture; however, this culturally meaningful proposal went largely unnoticed beside the simple, mass-appeal "Twonie/Toonie".[2][3]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Akulliq election CANCELLED". Elections Nunavut. October 7, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  2. http://openparliament.ca/hansards/1325/13/only/, Jack Iyerak Anawak on Two-Dollar Coin - Hansard April 26th, 1996, Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  3. http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1881577, WordReference Forums - Vocabulaire Anglo-Normand, Retrieved March 30, 2011.

External links