Pond Inlet (May 01/06) - The death of Speaker Jobie Nutarak has put his home community of Pond Inlet at a standstill while those who knew him best mourn his loss.

"It was shocking and upsetting. To my knowledge the whole community has been grieving because of his death," said Geesoonie Kiliktee, Nutarak's cousin and campaign manager from 1999-2005.

Nutarak, a unilingual Inuktitut speaker, died in a snowmobile accident while out caribou hunting with two friends 400 kilometres from Pond.

According to police, while travelling over rough terrain, Nutarak, who was last in the group, crashed and was found pinned under his machine. His friends attempted CPR and contacted the RCMP, who flew to the scene by helicopter.

His body was flown out of the community for an autopsy.

A memorial service will be held in Pond Inlet either Monday or Tuesday, with reverend Josh Arreak presiding.

Given his job as MLA and Speaker and his massive community involvement, everybody in the hamlet of 1,300 knew Nutarak, his cousin said.

He described his cousin as "a nice person, smart, quiet and honest." Most of all, when he was sitting down for tea with just a couple of friends, Nutarak's great sense of humour would shine.

"Sometimes he really liked to tell jokes. He was funny in a way."

Kiliktee said at least Nutarak, an avid hunter, "died when he was doing something he loved."

Nunavut's Premier Paul Okalik addressed the loss in the lobby of the Legislative Assembly, April 24.

"This is one unfortunate thing to have to go through in life and it is never easy when you go to the office and know it won't ever be the same again," said Okalik. "We are doing all that we can to support the family at this time."

Kiliktee said most of Nutarak's constituents supported their two-term MLA, but there were a few who took issue.

"There were a few complaints about him as an MLA because after the meetings at the legislature when he came back to Pond he didn't explain on local radio about the legislature and what was going on."

His term as speaker also provoked some controversy last November. In the legislative assembly, Nutarak apologized for an incident he was involved in, but never explained what it was.

A trip he took with fellow MLA Levi Barnabas and the clerk of the legislative assembly last October to Fiji, at the expense of taxpayers, also drew some criticism.

Kiliktee said Nutarak was planning to retire when his term was up in 2007.