Jack Anawak

Jack Iyerak Anawak (born September 26, 1950) is a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Nunatsiaq in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997. He sat in the house as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. Following his retirement from federal politics, he also served a term in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut after that territory was created in 1999. He ran as the New Democratic Party's candidate for his old riding, now renamed Nunavut, in the 2015 election, but was defeated by Liberal candidate Hunter Tootoo.

Jack Iyerak Anawak
ᔭᒃ ᐃᐊᕋᒃ ᐊᓇᕙᒃ
Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs
In office January 19, 2004 – October 3, 2006
Prime Minister	Jean Chrétien
Preceded by	Mary Simon
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Parliamentary constituencies Member of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut for Rankin Inlet North In office February 15, 1999 – February 16, 2004 Preceded by Riding established Succeeded by Tagak Curley Member of Parliament for Nunatsiaq In office November 21, 1988 – June 2, 1997 Preceded by Nancy Karetak-Lindell Succeeded by Massimo Pacetti
Personal details
Born	(1950-09-26) September 26, 1950 Repulse Bay, Northwest Territories
Political party	Liberal (1988-1997) Independent (1999-2004) New Democratic (2015)

Political career

Federal politics

Anawak was first elected in the 1988 election, and served as the Liberal Party's opposition critic for Northern Affairs in the 34th Canadian Parliament. Re-elected in the 1993 election, which was won by the Liberals, he was named parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in the government of Jean Chrétien.

Territorial politics

In 1999, he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut for the seat of Rankin Inlet North. He was widely favoured to be the new territory's first Premier. However, he was perceived as the choice of the Chrétien government. The Assembly, which operates on a nonpartisan consensus model, selected Paul Okalik instead.

Anawak did not run for re-election in 2004. He tried to return to the Assembly in the 2008 Nunavut general election, filing nomination papers to run in the electoral district of Akulliq. Elections Nunavut Chief Electoral Officer Sandy Kusugak rejected his candidacy, as he was not a full-time resident of Nunavut at the time his nomination papers were filed. Anawak took Elections Nunavut to court and managed to halt the election in that district pending his appeal, but on November 6, the Nunavut Court of Justice threw out the election challenge.

Anawak ran again in the 2013 territorial election, but finished fourth in the Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu riding.

Return to federal politics

In 2015, Anawak announced his intent to take back his old riding, now renamed Nunavut, in the 2015 election. This time, he ran as the candidate of the New Democratic Party. He came second in the race.

Popular culture

When the Canadian two-dollar coin was introduced, a number of nicknames were suggested. Jack Anawak proposed the name "Nanuq" [nanook, polar bear] in honour of Canadian Inuit and their northern culture; however, this culturally meaningful proposal went largely unnoticed beside the simple, mass-appeal "Twonie/Toonie".

Municipal politics

Anawak was elected to Iqaluit City Council in the 2023 municipal election.

Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs

Anawak served as Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs from January 2004 until 2006 when the position was discontinued by the Harper government. Its functions were transferred to the bureaucratic level.

Electoral history

2015 Canadian federal election: Nunavut
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Hunter Tootoo	5,619	47.11	+18.41	$32,110.96
	New Democratic	Jack Iyerak Anawak	3,171	26.58	+7.22	–
	Conservative	Leona Aglukkaq	2,956	24.78	-25.12	$36,393.17
	Green	Spencer Rocchi	182	1.53	-0.51	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			11,928	100.00		$203,887.65
Total rejected ballots			95	0.79	–
Turnout			12,203	62.54	–
Eligible voters			19,223
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+21.77
Source: Elections Canada

1993 Canadian federal election: Nunatsiaq
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Jack Iyerak Anawak	6,685	69.79	+29.85
	Progressive Conservative	Leena Evic-Twerdin	1,970	20.57	−2.37
	New Democratic	Mike Illnik	924	9.65	−23.51
Total valid votes			9,579	100.00
	Liberal hold		Swing		+16.11

1988 Canadian federal election: Nunatsiaq
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Jack Iyerak Anawak	3,356	39.94	+11.04
	New Democratic	Peter Kusugak	2,786	33.15	+4.50
	Progressive Conservative	Sedluk Bryan Pearson	1,928	22.94	−28.52
	Independent	Richard Inukpak Lee	333	3.96	–
Total valid votes			8,403	100.00
	Liberal gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+3.27

1984 Canadian federal election: Nunatsiaq
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Thomas Suluk	2,237	32.49	+24.71
	Liberal	Robert Kuptana	1,990	28.90	−12.90
	New Democratic	Rhoda Innuksuk	1,973	28.65	−18.61
	Independent	Peter Ittinuar	686	9.96	–
Total valid votes			6,886	100.00
	Progressive Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		+18.80
Independent candidate Peter Ittinuar lost 37.31 percentage points from the 1980 election, when he ran as a New Democrat.

External links

• Jack Anawak – Parliament of Canada biography
• Jack Iyerak Anawak on Two-Dollar Coin - Hansard April 26th, 1996
• Inuktitut Living Dictionary Archived June 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine