Levi Barnabas (born January 24, 1964) is a
Canadian politician. He was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of 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 ...
in 1995 and served until Nunavut was created in 1999. Barnabas served as the first Speaker in 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 ...
.
Biography
In 1999 he was elected to the
1st Legislative Assembly of Nunavut but had to resign in August 2000 after being convicted of sexual assault.
Nunavut women's groups outraged by cabinet appointment: Human Resources Minister Levi Barnabas convicted of sexual assault in 2000
at CBC North
CBC North ( iu, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ, lit=CBC Northwest, translit=, SiiPiiSii Ukiuqtaqtumi; cr, ᓰᐲᓰ ᒌᐌᑎᓅᑖᐦᒡ, label=cr, SiiPiiSii Chiiwetinuutaahch; french: Radio-Canada Nord) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...
The conviction came at the same time as James Arvaluk
James Arvaluk (April 1948 – April 27, 2016) was a Canadian politician from Coral Harbour, Nunavut. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories from 1991 to 1995 and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut ...
was charged with assault against his girlfriend. He pleaded guilty and resigned. The two scandals rocked the new government, and caused a substantial drop in positive public opinion. The resignation led to the first by-election in Nunavut history.
Barnabas ran in the December 2000 by-election but was defeated by Rebekah Williams
Rebekah Uqi Williams (born March 3, 1950) is a Canadian politician who served as the acting commissioner of Nunavut from June 22, 2020, when Nellie Kusugak's term ended, until January 14, 2021, when Eva Aariak took office. She has been the Deput ...
. He ran again in the 2004 Nunavut election in a hotly contested race and defeated Williams by doubling her vote count.
References
External links
An Overwhelming Agenda? Nunatsiaq News 22 September 2000
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnabas, Levi
1964 births
Inuit from the Northwest Territories
Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
Living people
Inuit politicians
People from Igloolik
Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
20th-century Canadian legislators
21st-century Canadian legislators
Inuit from Nunavut