Nunavut MLA Evyagotailak resigns to seek KIA leadership

Nunavut's legislative assembly will have one less member when it meets next month, as Joe Allen Evyagotailak has stepped down as MLA for Kugluktuk.

Evyagotailak told CBC News that he resigned as MLA on Thursday in order to seek the presidency of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association. Candidates have until Friday to file their nomination papers.

Before being elected to office in 2004, Evyagotailak served as vice-president and then as president of the KIA, a regional organization representing Inuit in Kugluktuk, Cambridge Bay and other communities in western Nunavut.

"I had talked to the elders in Kugluktuk and they said, 'Well, you've been there before, go for it,'" he said Friday.

"I'm ready to try and get back and work for the region. That's what my goal is."

The Kitikmeot Inuit Association's election for a new president will be held on Sept. 22.

In a release Friday, legislative assembly clerk John Quirke said there will not be a byelection to replace Evyagotailak, since a territorial general election has already been called for Oct. 27.

The current assembly will convene for the last time on Sept. 9, then officially dissolve on Sept. 21. The election writ will be issued on Sept. 22.

Residents of Kugluktuk who wish to run for MLA are encouraged to contact Elections Nunavut for more information.