James Arreak (born October 6, 1952) is a territorial and municipal level politician in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He has served as a member of both the

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...

and

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

legislatures.

Biography

Arreak is from Clyde River,

, Canada. Arreak was elected to the Northwest Territories Legislature in the

1979 Northwest Territories general election The 1979 Northwest Territories general election was held on October 1, 1979. Twenty-two members were elected to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. In 1980, George Braden was named "Government Leader", the first democratic leader of t ...

. He won the

Baffin South Baffin may refer to: Places * Qikiqtaaluk Region, also called the Baffin Region, an administrative and census region of Nunavut, Canada * Baffin, Unorganized, part of the Baffin Region census division * South Baffin, a territorial electoral distric ...

electoral district defeating incumbent Ipeelee Kilabuk. He left the legislature less than a year later in 1980. He was the

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLA) for the

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

Uqqummiut Uqqummiut ( iu, ᐅᕐᒃᑯᒻᒥᐅᑦ, Inuinnaqtun: Uqqurmiut) is a territorial electoral district ( riding) for the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, Canada. The riding consists of the communities of Clyde River and Qikiqtarjuaq. The Membe ...

having won the seat in the 2004 Nunavut election. In June 2006 he was appointed deputy speaker for the Legislative Assembly. In 2008 he was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut. He resigned from this position in November 2010 to become Minister of Culture, Language, Elders, and Youth and Minister of Languages in the Cabinet of Nunavut. He was replaced as Speaker by former premier

Paul Okalik Paul Okalik ( iu, ᐹᓪ ᐅᑲᓕᖅ, ; born May 26, 1964) is a Canadian politician. He is the first Inuk to have been called to the Nunavut Bar. He was also the first premier of Nunavut. On November 4, 2010, he was elected Speaker of the Legi ...

. Arreak was at one time mayor of Clyde River.

References

External links

*. Biography at the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut 1952 births Living people Inuit from the Northwest Territories Inuit politicians Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut 21st-century Canadian politicians Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories Mayors of places in Nunavut Mayors of places in the Northwest Territories People from Clyde River Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut Inuit from Nunavut {{NorthwestTerritories-mayor-stub