Politician, interpreter, and poet born Nunavut in the 1960s.
Nicholas P. Arnatsiaq, also known as Nick Arnatsiaq or Nicolas Arnatsiaq, was born in present-day Nunavut, likely in the early 1960s. After spending his early childhood in the Agu Bay region, on Baffin Island, he moved to Igloolik (Nunavut) at the age of seven. He attended a Catholic school in Chesterfield Inlet, on the west coast of Hudson Bay.
Nicholas P. Arnatsiaq’s professional career has two main components : translation and politics. He first worked as a translator and interpreter, both in Iqaluit (Nunavut) for his own company, and in Ottawa for the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (literally: “Inuit Brotherhood of Canada”; now Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, literally: “Inuit are united in Canada”), an organization founded in 1971 to represent the interests of Inuit in Canada. During his time in Ottawa, he was also the assistant editor of an Inuktitut-language magazine.
Nicholas P. Arnatsiaq’s political involvement began at the end of the 1970s in Igoolik, where he first served as head of economic development, then as president of the Igloolik Cooperative and member of the board of the Baffin Regional Council. The Baffin Regional Council, formed in 1977, brought together the mayors and councillors of the region’s municipalities and aimed to defend the interests of the Inuit community. Nicholas P. Arnatsiaq also served as deputy mayor of Igloolik before being elected mayor in January 2012. His support for mining projects in the Igloolik area, including that of the Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation, forced him to resign from this position in July 2012.
Beginning in the 1970s, Nicholas P. Arnatsiaq also authored several texts—stories, legends, and poems—which were published in Inuktitut Magazine and in Interpreter. In his writing, he focuses on various aspects of Inuit life, such as the residential school experience in “Conflict” (1972) and the importance of the natural world in “Peace of Mind” (1977). During several speeches in the 2000s, he expressed fear that Inuit youth were moving away from their culture.