John Ningark (17 March 1944 – 17 November 2016) was a territorial level politician in Nunavut

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 was a member of the

Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a uni ...

and

Legislative Assembly of Nunavut The Legislative Assembly of Nunavut is the legislative assembly for the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The seat of the Assembly is the Legislative Building of Nunavut in Iqaluit. Prior to the creation of Nunavut as a Canadian territory on Apr ...

.John Ningark, former Nunavut MLA, dies at 72 in Kugaaruk
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Political history

Ningark, who was from

Repulse Bay Repulse Bay or Tsin Shui Wan is a bay in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, located in the Southern District, Hong Kong. It is one of the most expensive residential areas in the world. Geography Repulse Bay is located in the southern ...

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. ...

(now Naujaat, Nunavut), was elected to the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly in a by-election in 1989 held in the Natilikmiot electoral district. He was returned by acclamation in the 1991 election. Ningark briefly served as Minister of Renewable Resources in 1992 but resigned shortly after being appointed, reportedly because he found the position too stressful. He won re-election to his third term and final term in the 1995 election, defeating future

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'' ...

MLA

Uriash Puqiqnak Uriash Puqiqnak, CM (born April 15, 1946) is an experienced soapstone carver and former territorial and municipal level politician in Canada. He served as Mayor of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut and was a member of the Nunavut Legislature from 1999 until ...

by less than 30 votes. He retired from the legislature in 1999, and did not seek election to the

upon that territory's creation. Ningark later attempted a political comeback, running for a seat in the

2004 Nunavut general election The 2004 Nunavut general election was held on February 16, 2004, to elect the 19 members of the 2nd Legislative Assembly of Nunavut. Premier Paul Okalik asked for the five-year-old territory's first parliament to be dissolved on January 16. The t ...

in the

Akulliq Akulliq () was a territorial electoral district ( riding) for the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, Canada. The riding consisted of the communities of Kugaaruk and Repulse Bay. Kugaaruk is now a part of the Netsilik riding and Repulse Bay (which ha ...

electoral district, but was defeated by

Steve Mapsalak Steve Mapsalak (born March 17, 1957) is a Canadian politician, who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut. He first won the Akulliq seat in the 2004 Nunavut election. According to preliminar ...

. He challenged Mapsalak again in the 2008 election, and according to preliminary results, he defeated Mapsalak by a margin of just two votes. A judicial recount was conducted, but resulted in Ningark and Mapsalak each receiving exactly 157 votes, thus forcing a new by-election."Akulliq by-election recount leads to tie"
cbc.ca, January 8, 2009. In the revote on March 2, Ningark defeated Mapsalak by a margin of 193 to 179.

References

External links

*. Biography at the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut 1944 births Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut 21st-century Canadian politicians 2016 deaths People from Naujaat Inuit from the Northwest Territories Inuit politicians Inuit from Nunavut People from Kugaaruk {{NorthwestTerritories-politician-stub