Nunatsiavut elects new president
Sarah Leo has been elected the new president of the Nunatsiavut government. She had encouragement from quite a few people to run, and with their encouragement, she put her name in.
“I have something to offer the government, for sure.” she said.
A majority of voters also thought Leo had something to offer, and voted for her over Johannes Lampe in a runoff election on June 11 by a 36-vote margin.
The second election came after a May 1 election failed to elect a clear winner.
Nunatsiavut election rules require a candidate to have more than 50 per cent of votes to be declared a winner.
Although this is Leo’s first presidential victory, it’s not her first time in politics.
She was the mayor of Nain from 2006-2010, and is familiar with the issues facing the Nunatsiavut people.
After two months on the campaign trail, she also knows what’s on the minds of Nunatsiavut voters.
“One of the things people brought up was communication between the government and the people,” she said.
Overcoming that will be relatively simple, said Leo, who plans to improve the channels of communication.
Economic development will also be a focus of her term in office.
“We need to let people know there are business opportunities here, but more importantly that our own people start becoming more, start taking advantage of any business opportunities or any economic development within the region.”
Preserving the language and culture of Nunatsiavut is also a topic of concern for Leo. A minority of people are fluent in Inuttitut, and Leo would like to see those numbers improve.
She isn’t fluent either, although she understands the language and is working to improve her speaking of Inuttitut.
It would be great, she said, if the Nunatsiavut government could conduct business in their own lan-- guage.
“The number of people who are actually fluent is dropping dramatically and we need to not only as a government, but certainly as a people start, ourselves, preserving our own language.”
Nunatsiavut was the first Inuit region to achieve self-government, and while it is still a part of Newfoundland and Labrador it operates as a separate government structure.
As such, Leo will look to strengthen relations with the provincial and federal governments.
Leo is hoping to host meetings with politicians from other governments in Nunatsiavut.
“I think that will give them a better perspective of what it’s like here and a better feeling of our self-government,” she said.
The Nunatsiavut government is relatively new, and Leo is only the second president.
In an effort to improve governance, Nunatsiavut adopted a strategic plan last fall that places priority on housing, cultural preservation, and organizing the government structure, including bringing all departments within the Nunatsiavut boundaries.