Paul Aarulaaq Quassa (born January 12, 1952)[1] is a Canadian politician who served as the fourth premier of Nunavut from November 2017 to June 2018. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, representing Aggu from 2013 until 2021.[2]
An Inuk, Quassa became involved in Inuit politics at the age of 20, and was one of the chief negotiators of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement that created the modern territory of Nunavut.
Early life
Quassa was born in Manitok, a hunting camp near Igloolik.[3] Born in an igloo, he was raised for the first years of his life in what he described as "the Inuit traditional way of life", part of the last generation to do so. At the age of six, he was taken to a Canadian Indian residential school in Churchill, Manitoba.[4]
Land claims work
He returned to Igloolik in 1972 to work on land claims and served as president of the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut in the early 1990s.[5] He was one of the negotiators of, and a signatory of, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement settlement that led to the establishment of Nunavut.[3][6]
He was dropped from the presidency of TFN in 1992 following allegations of sexual assault against a woman,[7] but received a discharge in court[8] and was subsequently reinstated as president of the organization and the successor Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated.[9] Quassa also worked as a journalist with CBC North, the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation and Isuma Productions.[4]
He was reelected in the 2017 election, and was subsequently selected as premier at the Nunavut Leadership Forum under the territory's consensus government system.[3]
Vote of no confidence
On June 14, 2018, he lost a non-confidence vote by 16–3, with two abstentions. The motion of no-confidence was tabled by MLA John Main, in response to what Main described as an "autocratic style" of leadership, and wider criticism by MLAs of the spending decisions made by Quassa's government.[12]
Quassa was replaced as Premier by former deputy premier Joe Savikataaq.[13]
^"Inuit land negotiator charged in assault". Edmonton Journal. 31 January 1992.
^"Discharge on sex assault sparks outcry by Inuit". Hamilton Spectator. 27 February 1992.
^"Inuit challenge federal gun-control law: Legislation 'designed for southern Canada' violates right to hunt without permit, leaders say". Montreal Gazette. 22 June 2000.
