Edna Elias is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 politician from Kugluktuk

Kugluktuk, Nunavut

Kugluktuk is a hamlet located at the mouth of the Coppermine River in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada, on Coronation Gulf, southwest of Victoria Island...

, Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

. On 12 May 2010 she was appointed as the 4th Commissioner of Nunavut

Commissioners of Nunavut

This is a list of the Commissioners of Nunavut, Canada, since its creation in 1999. As of 12 May 2010, the commissioner is Edna Elias.-History:The position of Commissioner was created in 1999 with the creation of the new territory...

 by Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 Stephen Harper

Stephen Harper

Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...

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Elias, who was in 2009 appointed to Inuit Uqausinnginnik Taiguusiliuqtiit (the Inuit Language Authority), has also served as the mayor of Kugluktuk and principal of Jimmy Hikok Ilihakvik (primary school), as well as teaching in Arctic Bay

Arctic Bay, Nunavut

Arctic Bay is an Inuit hamlet located in the northern part of the Borden Peninsula on Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Arctic Bay is located in the Eastern Time Zone although it is quite close to the time zone boundary. The predominant languages are Inuktitut and English...

 and working as an executive assistant for Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated

Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated

Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated is the legal representative of the Inuit of Nunavut for the purposes of native treaty rights and treaty negotiation and one of the four regional members that make up the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami...

 in Cambridge Bay

Cambridge Bay, Nunavut

Cambridge Bay, named for Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, is a hamlet located in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada...

. Prior to division of the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

 in 1999 she was the head of the Department of Culture and Employment's language bureau. Elias, who is fluent in Inuinnaqtun

Inuinnaqtun

Inuinnaqtun , is an indigenous Inuit language of Canada and a dialect of Inuvialuktun. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars, such as Richard Condon, believe that Inuinnaqtun is more appropriately classified as a dialect of Inuktitut...

, has stated that her goal as commissioner will be to promote education and the Inuit language

Inuit language

The Inuit language is traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador. The related Yupik languages are spoken in western and southern Alaska and Russian Far East, particularly the Diomede Islands, but is severely endangered in Russia today and...

s.

Elias is the great-granddaughter of Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 whaler, trapper, and trade, Christian Klengenberg

Christian Klengenberg

Christian Klengenberg Jorgensen , was a Danish whaler, trapper, and trader, active for 34 years in Alaska and Northern Canada . He is notable for opening trade routes to the Copper Inuit territory...

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