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Simonie Michael
Simonie Michael (Inuktitut: ᓴᐃᒨᓂ ᒪᐃᑯᓪ; first name also spelled Simonee, alternative surnames Michel or E7-551; March 2, 1933 – November 15, 2008) was a Canadian politician from the eastern Northwest Territories (now Nunavut) who was the first Inuk elected to a legislature in Canada. Before becoming involved in politics, Michael worked as a carpenter and business owner, and was one of very few translators between Inuktitut and English. He became a prominent member of the Inuit co-operative housing movement and a community activist in Iqaluit, and was appointed to a series of governing bodies, including the precursor to the Iqaluit City Council.
After becoming the first elected Inuk member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Council, in 1966, Michael worked on infrastructural and public health initiatives. He is credited with bringing public attention to the dehumanizing effects of the disc number system that was used in place of surnames for Inuit, and with prompting the government to authorise Project Surname to replace the numbers with names.
Michael was born between Kimmirut (then Lake Harbour) and Iqaluit (then Frobisher Bay), and was described as being from Apex, Iqaluit. His step-father, Tigullagaq, worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. While Michael was a child during World War II, the United States Army Air Force constructed several air bases around Iqaluit, and employed him in a series of jobs: as a dish washer, cook, stock boy, quartermaster, and later a heavy equipment operator. The military airfield construction would lead to the development of the city of Iqaluit, but it left Michael with several negative impressions. He would later say that the American military did not provide compensation for much of the labour that Inuit workers performed, including three months of work transporting wood. He also recalled that when Inuit residents were relocated to a nearby island to make space for the military construction projects, no means of transportation were given for them to travel between the island and the mainland.
Despite the policy of racial separation enforced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Iqaluit during the 1940s and into the 1950s, Michael was one of the residents who worked in various jobs for the American military, and he was able to learn English through that work. By the time he was 15 or 16 he had become noted for his skill as a translator. He has been described as the only Inuk in Iqaluit who could translate between Inuktitut and English in the mid-1950s, though some sources mention other translators around the same time. While working at the American military base, Michael became close friends with Joe Tikivik, who would later become his business partner.
Over the following years employees of the Canadian government working in and near Iqaluit sought out Michael because of his knowledge of English, so he had numerous early interactions with the Canadian government. Around the time that Michael began working as a government interpreter he also got married. At the start of the marriage he and his wife lived with her mother and father.
Before his election to the Northwest Territories Legislative Council at the age of 33, Michael worked as a carpenter, and ran a taxi and bus service. Together with Abe Okpik and Joe Tikivik, Michael also founded Inuk Ltd., a cleaning and construction company that at one time had 50 employees.
Michael was a prominent activist in Iqaluit. He founded a housing co-operative that built 15 new houses in Iqaluit, at a time when the co-operative housing movement was a major focus of Inuit activism and would quickly become the largest private sector employer of Indigenous people. In 1956, Michael and his wife became the first residents of Iqaluit to have an insulated house constructed. Michael was also a sculptor, producing several carvings of animals. Several of his sculptures have been sold at auction, and some of his sculptures have been housed in the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery.
Before Michael's candidacy for territory-wide office, Ronald Duffy writes that he already "had been named to just about every Iqaluit council and board in which Inuit [had] a voice". This included the municipal council that preceded the Iqaluit City Council. Michael was also one of two Inuuk chosen in 1953 to attend the Coronation of Elizabeth II as representatives of Canada.
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Simonie Michael
Simonie Michael (Inuktitut: ᓴᐃᒨᓂ ᒪᐃᑯᓪ; first name also spelled Simonee, alternative surnames Michel or E7-551; March 2, 1933 – November 15, 2008) was a Canadian politician from the eastern Northwest Territories (now Nunavut) who was the first Inuk elected to a legislature in Canada. Before becoming involved in politics, Michael worked as a carpenter and business owner, and was one of very few translators between Inuktitut and English. He became a prominent member of the Inuit co-operative housing movement and a community activist in Iqaluit, and was appointed to a series of governing bodies, including the precursor to the Iqaluit City Council.
After becoming the first elected Inuk member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Council, in 1966, Michael worked on infrastructural and public health initiatives. He is credited with bringing public attention to the dehumanizing effects of the disc number system that was used in place of surnames for Inuit, and with prompting the government to authorise Project Surname to replace the numbers with names.
Michael was born between Kimmirut (then Lake Harbour) and Iqaluit (then Frobisher Bay), and was described as being from Apex, Iqaluit. His step-father, Tigullagaq, worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. While Michael was a child during World War II, the United States Army Air Force constructed several air bases around Iqaluit, and employed him in a series of jobs: as a dish washer, cook, stock boy, quartermaster, and later a heavy equipment operator. The military airfield construction would lead to the development of the city of Iqaluit, but it left Michael with several negative impressions. He would later say that the American military did not provide compensation for much of the labour that Inuit workers performed, including three months of work transporting wood. He also recalled that when Inuit residents were relocated to a nearby island to make space for the military construction projects, no means of transportation were given for them to travel between the island and the mainland.
Despite the policy of racial separation enforced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Iqaluit during the 1940s and into the 1950s, Michael was one of the residents who worked in various jobs for the American military, and he was able to learn English through that work. By the time he was 15 or 16 he had become noted for his skill as a translator. He has been described as the only Inuk in Iqaluit who could translate between Inuktitut and English in the mid-1950s, though some sources mention other translators around the same time. While working at the American military base, Michael became close friends with Joe Tikivik, who would later become his business partner.
Over the following years employees of the Canadian government working in and near Iqaluit sought out Michael because of his knowledge of English, so he had numerous early interactions with the Canadian government. Around the time that Michael began working as a government interpreter he also got married. At the start of the marriage he and his wife lived with her mother and father.
Before his election to the Northwest Territories Legislative Council at the age of 33, Michael worked as a carpenter, and ran a taxi and bus service. Together with Abe Okpik and Joe Tikivik, Michael also founded Inuk Ltd., a cleaning and construction company that at one time had 50 employees.
Michael was a prominent activist in Iqaluit. He founded a housing co-operative that built 15 new houses in Iqaluit, at a time when the co-operative housing movement was a major focus of Inuit activism and would quickly become the largest private sector employer of Indigenous people. In 1956, Michael and his wife became the first residents of Iqaluit to have an insulated house constructed. Michael was also a sculptor, producing several carvings of animals. Several of his sculptures have been sold at auction, and some of his sculptures have been housed in the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery.
Before Michael's candidacy for territory-wide office, Ronald Duffy writes that he already "had been named to just about every Iqaluit council and board in which Inuit [had] a voice". This included the municipal council that preceded the Iqaluit City Council. Michael was also one of two Inuuk chosen in 1953 to attend the Coronation of Elizabeth II as representatives of Canada.