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OTTAWA – The new leader of the organization that is the voice of Canada’s 53,000 Inuit grew up in Resolute Bay at a time when the tiny Inuit hamlet had the busiest airport north of the Arctic Circle.
Planes supporting the burgeoning oil and gas industries were constantly landing and taking off again for Edmonton, Winnipeg and Montreal. But the people of Resolute Bay, who had been transplanted to the barren stretch of gravel as part of a plan by Canada to assert its sovereignty in the High Arctic, did not share in the wealth from the resources that were being extracted, Terry Audla says.
His desire to ensure that future development in the North does not only include the Inuit but is driven by them is what propelled Mr. Audla to seek the presidency of the Inuit Tapirit Kanatami (ITK), the group that represents Inuit living in 53 communities in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Northern Quebec and Northern Labrador.
Mr. Audla, 42, won the job this week at the ITK’s annual general meeting in Kuujjuaq, Que. He had the support of 12 out of 13 voting board members and replaces Mary Simon, who had held the post for six years.