Paul Aarulaaq Quassa (born January 12, 1952) is a Canadian politician who served as the fourth

premier of Nunavut The premier of Nunavut ( iu, ᓯᕗᓕᖅᑎ ᓄᓇᕗᒻᒥ; Inuinnaqtun: ''Hivuliqti Nunavunmi''; french: premier ministre du Nunavut) is the first minister for the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The premier is the territory's head of governme ...

from November 2017 to June 2018. He served 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 ...

, representing

Aggu Aggu ( iu, ᐊᒡᒍ) is a territorial electoral district ( riding) for the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, Canada. The riding consists of part of the community of Igloolik. The district was created prior to the 28 October 2013 general election ...

from 2013 until 2021. An

Inuk 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, and ...

, Quassa became involved in Inuit politics at the age of 20, and was one of the chief negotiators of the

Nunavut Land Claims Agreement The Nunavut Land Claim Agreement (french: L'Accord sur les revendications territoriales du Nunavut) was signed on May 25, 1993, in Iqaluit, by representatives of the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut (now Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated), the Governm ...

that created the modern territory of

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'' ...

Early life

Quassa was born in Manitok, a hunting camp near

Igloolik Igloolik ( Inuktitut syllabics: , ''Iglulik'', ) is an Inuit hamlet in Foxe Basin, Qikiqtaaluk Region in Nunavut, northern Canada. Because its location on Igloolik Island is close to Melville Peninsula, it is often mistakenly thought to be on th ...

. Born in an igloo, he was raised for the first years of his life in what he described as "the Inuit traditional way of life", part of the last generation to do so. At the age of six, he was taken to a

Canadian Indian residential school In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school sy ...

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname ...

Land claims work

He returned to Igloolik in 1972 to work on land claims and served as president of the

Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut The Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut (TFN, , ) was the organization officially recognized from 1982 to 1993 as representing the Inuit of what is now Nunavut, but was then part of the Northwest Territories, for the purpose of negotiating treaties an ...

in the early 1990s. He was one of the negotiators of, and a signatory of, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement settlement that led to the establishment of Nunavut. He was dropped from the presidency of TFN in 1992 following allegations of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

against a woman, but received a discharge in court and was subsequently reinstated as president of the organization and the successor

Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI; , ) is the legal representative of the Inuit of Nunavut for the purposes of native treaty rights and treaty negotiation. The presidents of NTI, Makivik Corporation, Nunatsiavut, and the Inuvialuit Regional Corp ...

. Quassa also worked as a journalist with

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 ...

and

Isuma Isuma (Inuktitut syllabics, ᐃᓱᒪ; Inuktituk for 'to think') is an artist collective and Canada's first Inuit-owned (75%) production company, co-founded by Zacharias Kunuk, Paul Apak Angilirq and Norman Cohn in Igloolik, Nunavut in 1990. Know ...

Productions.

Political career

First elected to the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut in the 2013 election, he represents the electoral district of Aggu. He served in the

Executive Council of Nunavut The Executive Council of Nunavut or cabinet includes a Premier and eight Ministers and is elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly from among the Assembly members. The cabinet members provide the political direction and accountabili ...

as Minister of Education during the 4th Legislative Assembly of Nunavut. As Education Minister, he unsuccessfully attempted to introduce bilingual education in schools, in both English and

Inuktitut Inuktitut (; , syllabics ; from , "person" + , "like", "in the manner of"), also Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the tree line, including parts of the provinces o ...

. He was reelected in the 2017 election, and was subsequently selected as premier at the Nunavut Leadership Forum under the territory's consensus government system.

Vote of no confidence

On June 14, 2018, he lost a non-confidence vote by 16-3, with two abstentions. The

motion of no-confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

was tabled by MLA

John Main John Douglas Main OSB (21 January 1926 – 30 December 1982) was a Roman Catholic priest and Benedictine monk who presented a way of Christian meditation which used a prayer-phrase or mantra. In 1975, Main began Christian meditation groups w ...

, in response to what Main described as an "autocratic style" of leadership, and wider criticism by MLAs of the spending decisions made by Quassa's government. Quassa was replaced as Premier by former deputy premier

Joe Savikataaq Joe Savikataaq (born ) is a Canadian politician who served as the fifth premier of Nunavut from 2018 to 2021. He was elected premier on June 14, 2018 by the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, after his predecessor Paul Quassa lost a no-confiden ...

. On February 26, 2020, he was selected as the new Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut following the resignation of Simeon Mikkungwak from the legislature the previous day.Rajnesh Sharma
"Quassa appointed as new Speaker of legislative assembly"
''

Nunavut News ''News/North'' (originally the ''News of the North'') is a newspaper based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, with offices in Fort Smith, Hay River, Fort Providence and Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, as well as Iqaluit and Rankin I ...

'', February 26, 2020. He did not seek re-election in 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quassa, Paul Living people 1952 births Members of the Executive Council of Nunavut Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut Inuit from the Northwest Territories Inuit politicians People from Igloolik 21st-century Canadian politicians Premiers of Nunavut Inuit from Nunavut Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut