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Louis Pilakapsi honoured by KIA
KIA names their new building after long-time politician Louis Pilakapsi

Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, July 30, 2014

KANGIQLINIQ/RANKIN INLET
It's an understatement to say Louis Pilakapsi left a mark on Nunavut's history.

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Louis Pilakapsi was a visionary for Nunavut and took part in much of the early planning to create the territory. On Nunavut Day, July 9, the Kivalliq Inuit Association announced it was naming their new office building in Rankin Inlet in his honour. Pilakapsi is pictured above in November 1992. - NNSL file photo

He was part of the creation of the territory and was involved in many of the organizations operating in the Kivalliq region and the territory as a whole, from Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI), to the Kivalliq Wildlife Management Board, and many others. He dreamed of a Nunavut that is unified and strong and worked to provide that dream to his fellow Nunavummiut.

When his ship, the Avataq, sunk in the Hudson Bay near Arviat in 2000, the territory lost one of its greatest leaders and visionaries, along with the three other men from the Kivalliq region that made up the Avataq's crew.

Now, the man who has been called the Godfather of Nunavut by colleagues, is being honoured when the Kivalliq Inuit Association announced it will name its office building after him.

David Ningeongan, president of the association, made the announcement to the community during Nunavut Day celebrations in Rankin Inlet.

"I am honoured to announce our new office building will be renamed today and will now be called the Louis Pilakapsi Office Building," announced Ningeongan in both English and Inuktitut to a round of cheers from the crowd. "This was a long overdue recognition."

"From what I know it was an unanimous decision," said Lisa Oolooyuk, communications manager with the KIA, later that week. "The board of directors executive committee got together with the regular board members and everybody unanimously agreed to name it in honour of (Pilakapsi). I don't think it was one specific person's idea or anything like that, all of them agreed, it was quite an easy decision from what it sounds like."

The building houses the offices for the association as well as Sakku Investments and the Sakku Drugs pharmacy.

Pilakapsi was president of the KIA back when it was called the Keewatin Inuit Association, and a member of the Nunavut planning commission. The Keewatin Regional Land Use Plan, part of the Nunavut Land Use Agreement, is named after him.

Oolooyuk said it was his involvement in the community that made it an easy decision to name the new building after him.

"He was very much involved with the creation of the territory right from the very beginning when the dream began to be discussed and over the years he was very heavily involved in all of the negotiations," said Oolooyuk. "Whenever you talk to a local person from the territory Louis Pilakapsi is a very well-known name."

Along with the association and NTI, Pilakapsi was also a councillor in his community of Rankin Inlet, a deputy mayor, part of the Canadian Rangers, and the president Aqiggiaq Hunters and Trappers Organization for a time.

"What we have today he had a big influence on, he was a huge influence," Oolooyuk said.

When Pilakapsi's ship sunk in the Hudson Bay about 11 km from Arviat, it was a huge loss to the community. Oolooyuk was working as a journalist with CBC at the time and she said she remembers what a blow it was.

"Either you knew the name, you were friends with him, you worked for him or with him. Everybody greived," she said, saying it was especially difficult that his entire crew was lost and some of their bodies were never found.

"It was a big loss and it was heavy," recalled Oolooyuk. "It was a really heavy kind of death to accept, there was not one person who wouldn't have been effected by it."

Even though the building is being named to honour Pilakapsi, Oolooyuk said the real honour is for the association to be able to name it after him.

"It's a big honour, it's a real privilege and an honour for the KIA to be able to do this," she said. "It's that important, he was that strong of a leader. It's even still feels like we're humbled by what he's done -- how do you honour someone who ranked that high?"

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