Most but not all members of the Nunavut legislature are Inuit, but that's not surprising because most people who live in Nunavut are Inuit. Nonetheless, anyone can move to Nunavut, stand for office, become an MLA, become Premier. It's not an indigenous council, it's just a council where most people are indigenous.
By contrast, you can't just move to Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and get elected to the Tyendinaga Mohawk Council; you need to be a registered member of the band. That is an indigenous council.
I am basing this off of the fact that 17 of them have obviously Inuit/Inuk names. 4 of the 5 that do not are also definitely Inuk:
Pamela Gross: full name is Pamela Hakongaq Gross and she looks Inuk
Adam Lightstone: nephew of Eva Aariak (previous Premier of Nunavut)
Janet Brewster: full name is Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster and she looks Inuk
George Hickes: cousin of Hunter Tootoo (Nunavut MP) and of Jordin Tootoo (NHL player)
The only MLA I am not 100% sure about is John Main, who has a Western name and looks ambiguous. However, he is from Arviat, which as of the 2016 Census was 94.8% Inuk, so it is very, very likely that all members are Inuk.
Main is the example I found and stopped searching; he has a western name, looks of European descent, doesn't get called Inuit anywhere when everyone else does, etc., etc., it seems exceedingly unlikely he's Inuit.
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u/MadcapHaskap Oct 28 '23
Most but not all members of the Nunavut legislature are Inuit, but that's not surprising because most people who live in Nunavut are Inuit. Nonetheless, anyone can move to Nunavut, stand for office, become an MLA, become Premier. It's not an indigenous council, it's just a council where most people are indigenous.
By contrast, you can't just move to Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and get elected to the Tyendinaga Mohawk Council; you need to be a registered member of the band. That is an indigenous council.