Aluki Kotierk earned a convincing majority of votes to turn back a challenge from contender Andrew Nakashuk in a two-way race for president of land claims organization Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. on Feb. 8.
Kotierk was the preferred candidate in every community. She unofficially garnered 2,602 votes, or 69 per cent, compared to 1,172 for Nakashuk, or 31 per cent of the votes.
Voter turnout was 17.5 per cent overall, from a high of 42 per cent in Grise Fiord to a low of 7.1 per cent in Arviat, where "no contact polling" was offered over extra days due to another outbreak of Covid-19. A polling clerk would drop the ballot box off at homes upon request and pick it up afterwards.
In her role as president, Kotierk will serve on NTI’s board of directors, executive committee, Inuit Social and Cultural Development Advisory Committee and as a chair of NTI’s affiliate organizations Makigiaqta Inuit Training Corporation, Nunavut Inuit Resource Revenue Trust and Nunavut Tunngavik Foundation, according to NTI. The president of the land claims organization also represents Nunavut Inuit on the board of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Inuit to Crown Partnership Committee and is co-chair of the Land Claims Agreements Coalition.
Prior to the election, Kotierk told Nunavut News that her priorities for her next four-year term would be: "rooted in what I envision for Nunavut. I envision a Nunavut where Nunavut Inuit are able to live their daily lives with pride and dignity, feeling supported to achieve their dreams, while being able to access programs and services that recognize Inuit culture and language. To live a good and empowered life, we need to have our basic needs met. We need to take good aspects from Inuit ways and marry them with good aspects of the modern world. We need to reclaim our pride as Inuit and live with dignity in our own homeland."