RANKIN INLET
Tagak Curley received yet another accolade for his illustrious career when he was inducted into the Order of Nunavut along with William Lyall and Father Robert Lechat this past month.

Elder, politician and Inuit activist Tagak Curley was inducted into the Order of Nunavut during a ceremony in Iqaluit this past month. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Curley, 71, was a founding member and first president of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada.

He spent eight years in the legislative assembly of the Northwest Territories, and more than a decade in Nunavut's legislative assembly, both as an MLA and a cabinet minister.

Born in a hunting camp in Coral Harbour, Curley is often considered a living father of confederation due to his work in the land claims negotiation that led to the creation of Nunavut.

Curley said the honour of the Order of Nunavut came as quite a surprise.

He said while he may treasure his Order of Canada slightly more, being inducted into the Order of Nunavut was an emotional experience.

"The Order of Canada was, definitely, my highest honour because it's national but with the audience in Ottawa being mostly southerners, you don't see that much emotion," said Curley.

"When I got the Order of Nunavut, with the audience being primarily from Nunavut, it really had a much more emotional impact on me than anything else.

"It really conveyed the message quite well on how some people see what I have done over a number of years.

"You can't help but reflect on that and it made me think a lot about my wife (Sally) who passed away two years ago."

Curley said he grew up with tremendous respect for his elders.

He said he relied on them a lot and enjoyed meeting with them and asking advice.

"That kind of relationship stayed with me ever since, as a young man, I realized Inuit needed to stand up and establish our own voice. That connection with the elders, to me, has never departed, even to this day. I'm not the best at remembering names because we called our elders by so-and-so's father, so-and-so's uncle or my uncle.

"That kind of tradition was important in establishing trust and respect, and, more and more today, I see us losing quite a bit of that connection with our elders."

Curley said being part of the first group to stand up and raise a voice for Inuit that will continue for every generation to come was his primary role in life.

He said it was often a long and difficult path that could put him at odds with the people closest to him.

Curley considers himself fortunate to have travelled to many communities before the Inuit movement started through his role as a community development officer.

The travel gave him a chance to speak with people who shared his views on the need to raise an independent voice for Inuit.

"When the movement actually started after 1971 -with communication and transportation being so difficult - there were times, when you had a young family, they didn't all 100 per cent share your views," said Curley.

"The desire to settle down as a family would often conflict with what you set out to do, but our unwritten rule within our Inuit group was that we had to keep going no matter how tough it got on us.

"There were times when I wanted to let someone else carry the ball, so I could go home to Coral Harbour where I was an accomplished hunter and trapper.

"I longed to go to my hometown, but the call was much stronger!"

Curley said when he looks around today, opportunity is far better for Inuit than it ever was in the past.

He said opportunities will continue to improve if the majority of Inuit will take on education and equip themselves for the future.

"Opportunities are certainly better now than when we were youngsters, and they'll continue improving for Inuit who don't just depend on the social net. It's up to the government of the day to improve opportunities for young people so they can become self-efficient.

"That's always a tough challenge because our economic base is somewhat limited up here."

Curley said he's content with his current lifestyle.

He said he's enjoying the quiet life, and it would take something of significance to coax him back into politics.

"I may be done, politically, because I have no desire to run again unless there was a major call to me for a very compelling reason.

"I'm satisfied doing smaller things and, right now, I like to observe and see how things are going.

"I'm still connected to my passion of getting outdoors to do a little hunting and fishing, and, most importantly, I'm around my children, grandchildren and stepsons, so I'm happy being an elder among them and they make sure they need me.

"I'm really enjoying this part of life."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.