Helen Maksagak

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Helen Mamayaok Maksagak CM , née Wingek (born April 15, 1931 at Bernard Harbor ; died January 23, 2009 in Cambridge Bay ) was a Canadian politician. She was the first woman and the first Inuk in the position of Commissioner (Engl. Commissioner ) of the Northwest Territories . She was also the first commissioner of the Nunavut Territory, established in 1999 .

Life

Helen Wingek was born in 1931 near Bernard Harbor, about 100 km north of the settlement of Kugluktuk in what is now the territory of Nunavut in northern Canada. Her family belonged to the Copper Inuit ethnic group . She spent her childhood in Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik , where she also received her schooling. In February 1950 she married John Maksagak. The couple had eight children, but two of them died early. They also adopted two other children. The family led a nomadic life as reindeer herders in the area of ​​the Mackenzie River before they settled in Cambridge Bay in 1961 . There Helen Maksagak was employed in a public relations center for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police . In addition, she was committed to environmental protection as well as against alcohol abuse and domestic violence.

Political career

Her first official post in politics took Maksagak in 1992, when she (Engl. Deputy Commissioner commissioner was) of the Northwest Territory appointed. The commissioners are the official representatives of the Canadian federal government in the territories in the north of the country. She held this post under Commissioner Daniel Norris until December 1994, before she was appointed Commissioner of the Northwest Territories in January 1995 as the first woman and first Inuk herself. This appointment was seen as preparation for the office in the new territory of Nunavut, which should be administered relatively autonomously by the Inuit. Consequently, after the creation of the new territory on March 26, 1999, she was appointed the first commissioner of the new territory. She held this post for a year before Piita Irniq succeeded her in this role in April 2000 . In her speech at the opening of the Territorial Parliament, the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut , she referred to the history of the Inuit and the common future with the English- and French-speaking Canadians in Nunavut.

Following her tenure as Commissioner, she was a member of the Nunavut Status of Women Council from 2001 to 2003, and from 2004 to 2008 she participated in the leadership of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation , an organization to deal with the consequences of the system of residential schools .

When the position of Deputy Commissioner was newly created in Nunavut in 2005, Maksagak's experience was drawn on and placed in this position. Maksagak held this post under Commissioner Ann Meekitjuk Hanson until her death in 2009.

Honors

The Helen Maksagak Center in Cambridge Bay

The posthumous naming of buildings after Inuit is partly criticized because it does not correspond to their tradition. The younger generation in particular sees this primarily as an expression of appreciation.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Harry Maksagak: In my view: Time of reflection. In: nunavutnews.com. January 19, 2020, accessed April 6, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Anne-marie Pedersen: Helen Mamayaok Maksagak ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia . October 15, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Backgrounder: Biography of Mrs. Helen Maksagak, Nunavut Deputy Commissioner. In: Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada . Archived from the original on April 2, 2012 ; accessed on April 6, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ a b Kathleen Lippa: What an honor. In: Northern News Services . June 23, 2003, archived from the original ; accessed on April 6, 2020 (English).
  5. ↑ a b c d Pamela Stern : Historical dictionary of the Inuit . Scarecrow Press Inc., Lanham, Maryland 2004, ISBN 0-8108-5058-3 (English).
  6. ↑ Official meeting report. In: Hansard of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut . April 1, 1999, accessed April 6, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Maksagak back as deputy commissioner. In: Nunatsiaq News. Retrieved April 6, 2020 .
  8. ↑ List of street names in Iqaluit. In: geographic.org. Retrieved April 5, 2020 .
  9. ↑ a b Brendan Griebel: Recharting the Courses of History: Mapping Concepts of Community, Archeology, and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit in the Canadian Territory of Nunavut . Ed .: University of Toronto. Toronto 2013 (English, utoronto.ca [PDF; accessed April 4, 2020]).
personal data
SURNAME Maksagak, Helen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maksagak, Helen Mamayaok (full name); Wingek, Helen Mamayaok (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Bernard Harbor
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 2009
Place of death Cambridge Bay