John Amagoalik, Inuk, 1947-
He is an active Inuit politician who was instrumental in the campaign
for the creation of Nunavut and was deeply involved in the quest
for compensation for Inuit families that were relocated. Amagoalik
was born at a seasonal camp near Inukjuaq in northern Quebec.
At the age of five, his family and 17 others were relocated to
the high Arctic communities of Resolute and Grise Fiord. He was
educated at residential schools in Churchill and Iqaluit. Amagoalik
began his political career as the Baffin Regional Information
Officer with the Northwest Territories territorial government,
a position he held from 1971 to 1974. It was at around this time
that he became the first of many to call for the creation of an
Inuit homeland to be called “Nunavut.” To help achieve
this goal, he acted as head of the NWT Nunavut Land Claims Commission
(NLCC) from 1977 to 1979. When that organization dissolved, Amagoalik
became part of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, acting as its vice-president
from 1979 to 1981, and serving two terms as president (1981-1985;
1988-1991). At the same time, from 1982 to 1985, he was co-chair
of the Inuit Committee on National Issues; in 1986-87, he was
chair of the Nunavut Constitutional Forum (NCF). From 1991 to
1993, he was a political advisor to the Tungavik Federation of
Nunavut. After the ratification of the Nunavut Act in 1993, Amagoalik
was appointed chief commissioner of the Nunavut Implementation
Commission – the organization that oversaw the arrangements
leading up to Nunavut's creation on April 1, 1999. Amagoalik has
received accolades for his work with Aboriginal rights and the
Nunavut claim, including the ITC's 20th Anniversary Award, a National
Aboriginal Achievement Award, and an honorary degree from St.
Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
