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Paul Quassa and Ookalik Curley appointed to Iqaluit City Council

Former Nunavut premier Paul Quassa and Ookalik Curley have been appointed to Iqaluit City Council following a vote among councillors on March 8.
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From left, Ookalik Curley, Iqaluit Mayor Kenny Bell and Paul Quassa. Curley and Quassa were appointed to Iqaluit City Council on March 8. Photo courtesy of the City of Iqaluit

Former Nunavut premier Paul Quassa and Ookalik Curley have been appointed to Iqaluit City Council following a vote among councillors on March 8.

Seven Iqalummiut put forward their names to fill two vacant seats.

“I think public-private partnership is a very good idea, we have a lot of corporations here right in our city. We have mining companies, if they want to be good corporate citizens, I think we can work with them,” said Quassa, who brings his political experience on the territorial level, as former president of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated as well as municipal experience while serving as Iglulik mayor for six years. He also was once the community’s senior administrative officer.

Quassa stepped down as Aggu MLA on Aug. 13, 2021. He was announced as a senior adviser to Baffinland Iron Mines in late October.

Curley, who was born in Iqaluit, is a longtime Government of Nunavut employee who worked for the municipality for more than eight years. She has served with the Nunavut Human Rights Tribunal, the Labour Standards Board and the Tukisigiarvik Society, which aids residential school survivors and disadvantaged and marginalized individuals.

“Congratulations to Ookalik Curley and Paul Quassa on their appointment to City of Iqaluit Council,” Iqaluit Mayor Kenny Bell wrote on Twitter.

The new councillors will be sworn in during the next city council meeting on March 22. They are filling seats left vacant by the departures of Janet Brewster and John Fawcett.