Eva Aariak, MLA

Member of the Legislative Assembly

A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....

(born 1972/1973) 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, who was elected in the 2008 territorial election

Nunavut general election, 2008

The Third Nunavut General Election took place on October 27, 2008 to return members to the 3rd Legislative Assembly of Nunavut. The election was contested across 15 of Nunavut's 19 electoral districts under the first past the post system of voting...

 to represent the electoral district

Electoral district (Canada)

An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...

 of Iqaluit East

Iqaluit East

Iqaluit East is a territorial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, Canada.The riding consists of the easterly portions of Iqaluit and the community of Apex....

 in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut

Legislative Assembly of Nunavut

The Legislative Assembly of Nunavut, Canada, is located in Iqaluit, and is the territory's parliament.The Legislative Assembly of Nunavut was opened by Queen Elizabeth II, as Queen of Canada, on 7 October 2002, during her Golden Jubilee tour of Canada...

. She was subsequently chosen as the second Premier of Nunavut

Premier of Nunavut

The Premier of Nunavut is the first minister for the Canadian territory of Nunavut. They are the territory's head of government and de facto chief executive, although their powers are considerably smaller than that of a provincial premier....

, under the territory's consensus government

Consensus government

Consensus government is a form of consensus democracy government in Canada in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, as well as Nunatsiavut, an autonomous area in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador....

 system, on November 14, 2008. Aariak is the fifth woman to serve as a premier in Canada.

Background

Prior to her election as an MLA, Aariak was the first Languages Commissioner for Nunavut. Originally appointed to a four-year term beginning in 1999, her term was later extended for another year until December 2004.

In her capacity as Languages Commissioner, she was asked to choose an Inuktitut language word for the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

; she settled on ikiaqqivik, which literally means "travelling through layers" and refers to the traditional Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

 concept of a shaman travelling through time and space to find answers to spiritual and material questions.

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. She was later reappointed as acting commissioner in December 2007 after the resignation of then Languages Commissioner, Johnny Kusugak.

She has also served as coordinator of the Baffin Divisional Education Council's Inuktitut language book publishing program, as president of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce and as chair of the Nunavut Film Development Corporation.

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 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.

Two other women, Jeannie Ugyuk

Jeannie Ugyuk

Jeannie Ugyuk is a Canadian politician, who was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Nattilik in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut in the 2010 by-election. Her riding of Nattilik encompasses the communities of Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak, Nunavut...

 and Monica Ell

Monica Ell

Monica Ell is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the district of Iqaluit West in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut in a by-election on September 12, 2011....

, were subsequently elected to the legislature in by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

s.

At the Nunavut Leadership Forum on November 14, 2008, Aariak was chosen as the new premier over incumbent Paul Okalik

Paul Okalik

Paul Okalik MLA is a Canadian politician. He is the first Inuk member called to the Nunavut Bar, the first Premier of Nunavut and the only multi-term premier of a Canadian territory....

 and MLA Tagak Curley

Tagak Curley

Tagak Curley is an Inuit leader, politician and businessman from Nunavut. As a prominent figure in the negotiations that led to the creation of Nunavut, Tagak is considered a living father of confederation in Canada...

. She is the fifth woman, after Rita Johnston

Rita Johnston

Rita Margaret Johnston was a politician in British Columbia, Canada. Johnston became the first female premier in Canadian history when she succeeded William Vander Zalm in 1991 to become the 29th Premier of British Columbia.Much of her early life was spent running a successful trailer park in the...

, Nellie Cournoyea

Nellie Cournoyea

Nellie Cournoyea, OC is a former Canadian politician, who served as the sixth Premier of the Northwest Territories from 1991 to 1995...

, Catherine Callbeck

Catherine Callbeck

Catherine Sophia Callbeck is a Canadian politician and a current member of the Senate of Canada.She was the 28th Premier of Prince Edward Island from 1993 to 1996, the second female provincial premier in Canadian history, and the first to win a general election Catherine Sophia Callbeck (born July...

 and Pat Duncan

Pat Duncan

Pat Duncan is a former politician in the Yukon, Canada. Duncan served as leader of the Yukon Liberal Party from 1998 to 2005 and as the sixth Premier of Yukon from 2000 until 2002...

, to hold a premiership in Canada, and the sixth female First Minister in the country including former Prime Minister Kim Campbell

Kim Campbell

Avril Phædra Douglas "Kim" Campbell, is a Canadian politician, lawyer, university professor, diplomat, and writer. She served as the 19th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 25, 1993, to November 4, 1993...

.