Former Kuujjuaq mayor Tunu Napartuk will defend the Liberal colors in the riding of Ungava in the next election. Two other candidates are in the running for the moment: the current Caquiste deputy, Denis Lamothe, and the solidarity Maïtée Labrecque-Saganash.
The leader of the Liberal troops, Dominique Anglade, presented her new candidate at a press conference held in Montreal on Tuesday morning. “He is someone who has always had an exemplary commitment,” said Ms. Anglade, saluting “the family values” of the latter and his six years as mayor of Kuujjuaq, from 2012 to 2018. person we need in Ungava,” she insisted.
The election in 2018 proved to be hotly contested. The CAQ candidate had won by only 46 votes ahead of the PQ candidate, who himself was ahead of his Liberal rival by 90 votes. Québec solidaire received more than 16% of the votes.
Ungava elected PQ MPs continuously from 1985 until 2014, when the Liberal Party won the riding for the first and only time.
Seniors First
Mr. Napartuk says he is making the leap into provincial politics to tackle the “enormous” issues facing his region. Nearly 45% of the population aged 15 and over has no diploma in Ungava. The university graduation rate is less than 10%, while it is close to 25% in Quebec as a whole.
The school success rate remains even lower in the 14 Inuit communities. Only 3.5% of the Inuit population has a college diploma and a tiny fraction of the population has a certificate (1.2%) or a bachelor’s degree (0.8%), according to data from the Department of Education and Nunivaat.
“The cost of living and food security” are among the priorities of the Liberal candidate. “We are all isolated. In our 14 Inuit communities, everything has to come in by plane,” he said. In particular, he pleads for better care for the elderly. ” Without [ces derniers]I wouldn’t be here,” Napartuk said.
Against “Law 96”
The former mayor of Kuujjuaq believes that “systematic racism exists everywhere, and not just in Quebec”. He sharply criticized “Law 96”, which reinforces the predominance of French as the only official language of the Quebec nation. “In our region of Nunavik, it is already a challenge to speak Inuktituk. Law 96 will make this extremely difficult,” he lamented.
Tunu Napartuk had been working since April 2019 as Director of Complementary and Compassionate Services within the Kativik organization. His curriculum vitae indicates that he completed a diploma in 1989, in French, at the Jaanimmarik school.
He praised the unprecedented representation of Aboriginal candidates in the upcoming elections, when nine candidates from First Nations and Inuit people will be on the ballots on October 3.
“I find it extraordinary, for all First Nations and for our Inuit people in Nunavik,” said the Liberal candidate. All the aboriginal representatives we have, we need them. »