Natan Obed will continue as president of Canada’s national Inuit organization, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), after securing a fourth term.
ITK advocates as the national voice of Inuit across Canada. Its president is elected by representatives of ITK’s four director organizations: the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., Makivvik Corporation, and the Nunatsiavut government.
The presidential election was held on Thursday at the end of ITK’s annual general meeting in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Obed was then sworn in to another four-year term.
He ran against Kevin Kablutsiak, a former CBC N.W.T. and Yukon managing editor who also worked in communications and marketing at several northern organizations.
Obed, originally from Nain, N.L., was first elected ITK president in 2015, after working for both the Labrador Inuit Association, and Nunavut Tunngavik.
In an interview earlier this month, Obed told CBC News he hadn’t imagined he’d be seeking a fourth term as ITK president but recent “political instability” with threats from foreign nation states, as well as the election of a new prime minister, made him want to stay on.
Obed said housing is a key issue for him. He referred to the federal Inuit Nunangat Housing Strategy, developed with ITK, that he feels has not been implemented “to its fullest extent.”
While he doesn’t speak Inuktitut fluently, he said he has been trying to learn more and he will be a champion for the language no matter the role or position he is in.
On Wednesday, the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) Canada named its new interim president, who CBC has confirmed will also serve as the vice-president of ITK.
Former N.W.T. MLA Herb Nakimayak, originally from Paulatuk, will serve in the role until the next ICC election next summer.
The Inuit Circumpolar Council is an advocacy group founded in 1977 to represent Inuit from Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia.
