Quick Facts
Biography
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 the riding of Nunavut in the 2015 election, but was defeated by Liberal candidate Hunter Tootoo.
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, but did not run for re-election in 2004.
Anawak attempted to run for a seat in the 2008 Nunavut general election. He filed nomination papers to run in the electoral district of Akulliq but was denied as a candidate by Elections Nunavut Chief Electoral Officer Sandy Kusugak 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 Canada's Inuit people and their northern culture; however, this culturally meaningful proposal went largely unnoticed beside the simple, mass-appeal "Twonie/Toonie".
Electoral history
| Canadian federal election, 2015: Nunavut | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ∆% | Expenditures | |||
| Liberal | Hunter Tootoo | 5,619 | 47.11% | +18.49 | – | |||
| New Democratic | Jack Iyerak Anawak | 3,171 | 26.58% | +7.14 | – | |||
| Conservative | Leona Aglukkaq | 2,956 | 24.78% | -25.07 | – | |||
| Green | Spencer Rocchi | 182 | 1.53% | -0.55 | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 11,928 | 100.0 | $202,334.18 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 95 | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | 12,203 | 62.54% | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 19,223 | |||||||
| Source: Elections Canada | ||||||||
| Canadian federal election, 1993: 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 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | +16.11 | ||||||
| Canadian federal election, 1988: 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 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Liberal gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | +3.27 | ||||||