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Corporate / Executive Profiles / Pita Aatami

President

Mr. Aatami is born in Kuujjuaq in 1960.

Mr. Aatami has a record of outstanding achievement, dedication and commitment to the Inuit of Nunavik, to the Inuit of Canada, and to his country.

Mr. Aatami has played a key-role in bringing Inuit of Nunavik to the modern world. He has been in public life for the last 20 years and President of Makivik Corporation for the last 10 years. One of the most important strengths of Mr. Aatami is that he is a visionary, he has a VISION where the Nunavimmiut as a group should go, and as a Leader to his people in determining their own future. Having a vision and being a leader are extremely important characteristics. A few examples of what he has accomplished over the years: creation of a Summer Camp for the Youth of Kuujjuaq, negotiation of the Great-Whale River Project of which derived the Heating Oil Subsidy and the Training Center in Inukjuak, negotiation of the Raglan Agreement seen as a model throughout the world, negotiation of the Sanarrutik Agreement with the Government of Québec and Premier Landry, the Katimajiit Conference and its multiples spin-offs for Nunavik, creation of a working group on Nunavik Cost of living, renewal of the Social Housing Agreement with both Québec and Canada and finally the independent examination by Québec of the dogs' slaughter.

Mr. Aatami is also a LEADER for his people. A strong person that is not afraid to get involved in difficult situations and to take decisions, sometimes very hard decisions in order to find solutions to acute problems facing Nunavik. He is a Leader that calls respect and he has shown respect to his people. Mr. Aatami travels extensively to all Nunavik communities, listening to the concerns of the youth, elders, hunters, business people, needy people, etc. He has established excellent communication with the Inuit population.

He showed very strong leadership in the negotiations of the Nunavik Inuit Land Claim Agreement negotiated with the Government of Canada. The NILCA legislation has recently received Royal Assent. It is the second major treaty of the Inuit of Nunavik after the James Bay and Northern Québec Agreement.

In 2002, Mr. Aatami and the Premier of Québec signed a major agreement that ensures both the Inuit and the Québec population as a whole, a greater control over their common future, while giving them the opportunity to be true partners in the face of the challenges before them. The Sanarrutik Agreement is a tangible example of "Partners for a More Prosperous Future". At the signing ceremony, Mr. Aatami had these words: "After the agreement, I can show our youth that they have a future now. This is a new beginning, a new era that we are starting. We are starting to work as partners".

A couple of months after the signing of the Sanarrutik Agreement, the National Assembly of Québec voted this motion: "That the National Assembly of Québec underscore the inauguration of an Inukshuk on the grounds of the Parliament Building, a monument symbolizing the good relations that Québec and Inuit have enjoyed for close to 40 years, and that recalls the willingness of the Québec nation and the Inuit nation to maintain and bolster their partnership relationship".

A third tangible example of Mr. Aatami leadership was the organization of the Katimajiit Conference held in Kuujjuaq in August 2007. The conference was co-chaired by the Premier of Québec, Jean Charest, Pita Aatami and the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. The main topics to be discussed included education and culture, economy and employment, health, social services, child care services, environment, and sustainable community development.

A couple weeks prior to the Katimajiit Conference, the Québec Commission on Human Rights and Youth issued a devastating report on the situation of Nunavik youth. The report highlighted the identity crisis the Inuit people face presently, which is reflected in the scope of social problems that have emerged in the past decades.

In its report, the Commission requested that the Premier of Québec take personal control of this issue, and requested that the Inuit under the leadership of the President of Makivik Corporation, assemble favorable conditions to protect children and take into account the interests and realities of Nunavik.

It is without any hesitation that Mr. Aatami undertook this difficult job. At the conference, he spoke directly to all Inuit of Nunavik urging parents, men and women, to work together and bring solutions to alleviate the situation the Nunavik youth are facing.

He is a Board Member and Treasurer of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the organization that represents all the Inuit of Canada, and of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, that represents the 150,000 Inuit who live in Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

Regarding northern research, Makivik and its Nunavik Research Centre received in June 2007 the GOLD AWARD of the Canadian Environment Awards in the Environmental Health category. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of ArcticNet, coordinated by Laval University in Québec City.

In 2007, Reader's Digest made Pita Aatami a HERO OF THE YEAR and described him as a "Tireless Fighter for His People", and underlined his tenacity and his leadership.

On November 28, 2008, he was elected Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary for his support to northern research and education.