List of Nunavut commissioners
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The commissioner of Nunavut ( iu, ᑲᒥᓯᓇ ᓄᓇᕗᒧᑦ;
Inuinnaqtun Inuinnaqtun (; natively meaning ''like the real human beings/peoples''), is an indigenous Inuit language. It is spoken in the central Canadian Arctic. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars, such as Richard Condon, believe th ...
: ''Kamisinauyuq Nunavunmut''; french: Commissaire du Nunavut) is the
Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
's representative in the 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'' ...
. The current commissioner since January 14, 2021 is
Eva Aariak Eva Qamaniq Aariak ( iu, ᐄᕙ ᐋᕆᐊᒃ, ; born January 10, 1955) is a Canadian Inuk politician, who was elected in the 2008 territorial election to represent the electoral district of Iqaluit East in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut. S ...
. The commissioner is appointed to represent the Canadian federal government and performs many of the same duties of lieutenant governors in Canadian provinces, such as swearing in members 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 ...
and approving territorial legislation. However, unlike a lieutenant governor or the
governor general of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...
, the commissioner is not a
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
and does not represent the
Canadian monarch The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The monarchy is the found ...
.


History

The position was created in 1999 with the creation of the new Nunavut territory. Like other territorial commissioners, the commissioner is appointed by the
Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
and represents the Canadian cabinet in the territory. ''Note.'' Prior to April 1, 1999, Nunavut was part of the
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. ...
. See
Commissioners of Northwest Territories A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
.


Deputy commissioner

The role of deputy commissioner was added in 2005 by amending the
Public Officer Act In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
and
Seals Act Seals may refer to: * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impress an emblem, used as a means of a ...
to be inline with the
Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...
and Northwest Territories.Regulations Amending the Formal Documents Regulations


Living former commissioners

*
Peter Irniq Piita Taqtu Irniq, formerly Peter Irniq, (born February 1, 1947) is an Inuk politician in Canada, who served as the second commissioner of Nunavut from April 2000 to April 2005. Biography Born in Lyon Inlet near Repulse Bay, Northwest Territ ...
*
Ann Meekitjuk Hanson Ann Meekitjuk Hanson (Inuktitut: ᐋᓐ ᒦᖀᑦᔩᒃ ᐦᐋᓐᓱᓐ/an miiqitjuk hansun; born May 22, 1946 in Qaktut, Northwest Territories, now Nunavut) was the third commissioner of Nunavut. She served from April 21, 2005 until April 10, 2 ...
*
Nellie Kusugak Nellie Taptaqut Kusugak (born 1955) is a Canadian educator who served as the fifth commissioner of Nunavut from June 2015 to June 2020. Early life Kusugak is from Rankin Inlet. Kusugak received a BEd in 1996 through the Nunavut Teachers Educa ...
*
Edna Elias Edna Agnes Ekhivalak Elias (born c. 1955) is a Canadian politician from Kugluktuk, Nunavut. On 12 May 2010 she was appointed as the fourth commissioner of Nunavut by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Her term ended on 11 May 2015. Elias, who was i ...


Duties

The duties of the commissioner are similar to that of the
lieutenant governors A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
of the provinces. However, since commissioners represent the Government of Canada rather than the Crown, they are not
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning "k ...
s.


References


External links

*
Official Handbook for Commissioners of the Territories (Canada)
{{Nunavut *
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'' ...
Commissioners A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...
Nunavut politics-related lists