Prior to her election as an MLA, Aariak was the first Languages Commissioner for Nunavut.[8] Originally appointed to a four-year term beginning in 1999, her term was later extended for another year until December 2004.[9]
In her capacity as Languages Commissioner, she was asked to choose an Inuktitut language word for the Internet; she settled on ikiaqqivik (IPA:[ikiaqqivik]), which literally means "travelling through layers" and refers to the angakkuq, the traditional Inuit concept of a shaman or medicine man, travelling through time and space to find answers to spiritual and material questions.[10]
After stepping down as Languages Commissioner, she then went on to teach Inuktitut at the Pirurvik Centre in Iqaluit, and later owned and operated Malikkaat, a retail store in Iqaluit which sold Inuit arts and crafts.[8] She was later reappointed as acting commissioner in December 2007 after the resignation of then Languages Commissioner, Johnny Kusugak.[5]
She also served as coordinator of the Baffin Divisional Education Council's Inuktitut language book publishing program,[11] as president of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce[12][better source needed] and as chair of the Nunavut Film Development Corporation.[13]
Her daughter Karliin was named Nunavut's new languages commissioner in 2020.[14]
Political career
Aariak was the only woman elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2008 election. She subsequently expressed her disappointment with that fact, suggesting that improved daycare services in Nunavut might be needed to help women participate more actively in the political process[15] and that the territory should revisit the failed proposal to have a smaller number of electoral districts, each of which would choose one man and one woman as MLAs.[16]
On September 5, 2013, Aariak announced that while she would seek re-election as an MLA for the new electoral district of Iqaluit-Tasiluk in the 2013 election, she was not interested in the second term as premier when the new Legislative Assembly took office.[18] On October 28, 2013, Aariak was not re-elected as an MLA, losing by 43 votes to George Hickes.[19]
She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada on November 19, 2018, for her dedication to promoting Inuit culture and languages, as well as her political impacts regarding poverty reduction and the promotion of equity and gender equality.[20]
_(cropped).jpg)
