Paul Okalik - Early Life

Early Life

Okalik was born on May 26, 1964, in Pangnirtung, Northwest Territories (now Nunavut), the youngest of ten children born to Auyaluk and Annie Okalik. He was sent to residential school in Frobisher Bay, now Iqaluit, at 15, returning to Pangnirtung after one year. He began a series of temporary jobs and pursuits including time as an apprentice underground at the Nanisivik Mine in northern Baffin Island. In the early 1980s, he became interested in the political development of Inuit communities and began to work for the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut, the predecessor of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, as a deputy negotiator on the Inuit land claim, the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. That claim, the largest in Canadian history, was signed in 1993 after decades of negotiations between Canada and the Inuit of Nunavut and would lead to the creation of Nunavut that he was to lead through its first decade.

Okalik continued in his claims work, and began University as a mature student, serving as a representative on the Nunavut Implementation Panel. Okalik has been overt in acknowledging the role alcohol played in his earlier years and his commitment during his university years to stop drinking altogether. He went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the University of Ottawa.

In 1998 he returned to Iqaluit to article at Crawford Law Office, working briefly in Yellowknife and with the Maliganik Tukisiniakvik legal aid clinic. In 1999 he was called to the Northwest Territories Bar, becoming the first Inuk lawyer in NWT/Nunavut history. His dream was to help his people in their dealings with the Canadian justice system.