Lorne Kusugak is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician, who is

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. ...

of Nunavut for the electoral district of Rankin Inlet South. Prior to becoming an MLA, Kusugak was the mayor of

Rankin Inlet Rankin Inlet ( iu, Kangiqliniq; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑲᖏᕿᓂᖅ or ''Kangirliniq'', ᑲᖏᖅᖠᓂᖅ, or ''Kangir&iniq'' meaning ''deep bay/inlet'') is an Inuit hamlet on Kudlulik Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest hamlet and ...

. Kusugak served as the Nunavut Minister for Community and Government Services, Minister for Energy and the Minister responsible for the Qulliq Energy Corporation. Kusugak was first elected in the 2008 election, in the district of

Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove was a Provinces and territories of Canada, territorial Electoral district (Canada), electoral district (Riding (division), riding) for the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, Canada. The ...

. In the 2013 election, Kusugak and challenger Alexander Sammurtok finished in an exact tie in the redistributed riding of Rankin Inlet South, forcing a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

.Nunavut recounts produce one winner and one intractable deadlock
''

Nunatsiaq News ''Nunatsiaq News'' ( iu, ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᕐᒥ ᐱᕙᓪᓕᐊᔪᑦ, italic=no) is a Canadian weekly newspaper in operation since 1973 based in Iqaluit, serving Nunavut and Nunavik, in Kativik, Nord-du-Québec. The paper is published every Fri ...

'', November 5, 2013 Sammurtok won the by-election. In the 2017 election, Kusugak defeated Sammurtok to reclaim the seat.

Biography

Kusugak was born in

(then located in the Northwest Territories), one of the 11 children of a father who was a heavy equipment operator, and a mother who was a homemaker and a seamstress. In the mid-1970s, Kusugak attended

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

, Northwest Territories, and later returned to Rankin Inlet to assist his mother. Kusugak's first job was with the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

(CBC), which employed him as the first CBC reporter in his home town. For the next 15 years, Kusugak worked as a CBC broadcaster in several positions, both at home in Rankin Inlet and in

Iqaluit Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the Frobisher Bay, large bay on the c ...

. While working in these positions, he was one of the founders of the

Inuit Broadcasting Corporation The Inuit Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) ( iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᑕᑯᓐᓇᕋᑦᓴᓕᕆᔨᑦ) is a television production company based in Nunavut with programming targeted at the Inuit population of Nunavut. Almost all of its programs are broad ...

, a television broadcaster featuring programs almost entirely broadcast in Inuktitut.Candidates ready for election
- Northern News Services Online. Retrieved October 28, 2010. Kusugak has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Nunavut Implementation Training Committee and the Executive Director of the

Kivalliq The Kivalliq Region (; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑭᕙᓪᓕᖅ ) is an administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the portion of the mainland to the west of Hudson Bay together with Southampton Island and Coats Island. The regional ...

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

Association. He served three consecutive terms as the Mayor of Rankin Inlet for six years before being elected as a Member of the

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 ...

for the electoral district of

in the 2008 territorial election. Kusugak defeated the incumbent Member and Deputy Premier of Nunavut,

Levinia Brown Levinia Nuqaalaq Brown (born in 1947 at Dawson Inlet, south of Whale Cove, Nunavut) is a Canadian politician who served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the electoral district of Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove in the Legislat ...

, with 62% of the vote. Over the course of his first term, he served as Government House Leader, Minister of Community and Government Services and Minister responsible for the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission. Kusugak was re-elected on October 30, 2017, to represent the constituency of Rankin Inlet South in the 5th Legislative Assembly. Over the course of this term, he served as Minister of Community and Government Services, Minister of Human Resources, Minister Responsible for Suicide Prevention, and Minister Responsible for Seniors. In November 2020, Premier Joe Savikataaq appointed Kusugak as Minister of Health, assigning him responsibility for leading the Nunavut response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Personal life

Kusugak is married to his wife Sally and has three daughters; Kandace, Nuatii and Terrie.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusugak, Lorne Living people Inuit from the Northwest Territories Inuit politicians Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut 21st-century Canadian politicians Mayors of places in Nunavut People from Rankin Inlet Inuit from Nunavut Members of the Executive Council of Nunavut Year of birth missing (living people)