Nunavut

The federal riding of Nunavut encompasses the entirety of Canada’s largest and youngest territory—approximately 2.1 million square kilometres of Arctic tundra, sea ice, and archipelago that stretch from the western shore of Hudson Bay to the High Arctic islands approaching the North Pole. It is the largest federal electoral district in Canada by area. The territory’s roughly 40,000 residents, about 85 per cent of whom are Inuit, live in 25 fly-in communities spread across three administrative regions: Qikiqtaaluk (Baffin), Kivalliq, and Kitikmeot. Iqaluit, the capital, sits on the southern coast of Baffin Island and is home to roughly 8,000 people. No roads connect any of Nunavut’s communities to each other or to the rest of Canada; all are accessible only by air and, for part of the year, by sealift.

Candidates

Lori Idlout (NDP) — Raised across several Nunavut communities including Igloolik, Pond Inlet, Rankin Inlet, and Chesterfield Inlet, Idlout holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Lakehead University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa. She practised law in Iqaluit through her own firm, Qusugaq Law, where her clients included Inuit hunters contesting the proposed expansion of the Baffinland iron mine. From 2004 to 2011, she served as executive director of the Nunavut Embrace Life Council, a suicide-prevention organization. First elected to Parliament in 2021 after winning the NDP nomination by coin toss, she sought re-election on a platform focused on food security, housing, and Inuit self-determination.

Kilikvak Kabloona (Liberal) — Originally from Baker Lake (Qamani’tuaq), Kabloona has served since 2018 as chief executive officer of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (NTI), the body mandated to represent the rights of Nunavut’s Inuit under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement. Her career in territorial governance includes serving as associate deputy minister for quality of life with the Government of Nunavut and as a political adviser to territorial cabinet ministers and premiers. She took a leave of absence from NTI to campaign, arguing that a Liberal representative could deliver stronger federal investment in the territory’s infrastructure and services.

James T. Arreak (Conservative) — An Inuk from Pond Inlet who has lived in Iqaluit since 1996, Arreak brings a lengthy career in territorial leadership. He has served as CEO of Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated, president of the Nunavut Economic Forum, executive director of the Coalition of Nunavut District Education Authorities, and political adviser to Premier P.J. Akeeagok. Most recently, he was vice-president of corporate services at Qulliq Energy Corporation, Nunavut’s territorial power utility. He campaigned on fiscal responsibility, affordability, infrastructure investment, and Arctic sovereignty.

About the Riding

Nunavut confronts some of the most severe affordability and infrastructure challenges of any riding in Canada. Food prices in remote communities can reach several times southern Canadian levels, and nearly 60 per cent of Nunavut households have reported food insecurity—the highest rate of any province or territory. The federal Nutrition North Canada subsidy has faced persistent criticism for failing to reduce grocery costs at the retail level, and the expiry of emergency food-voucher funding in March 2025 heightened the crisis for families with children.

The housing shortage is equally acute. The territory faces a shortfall of thousands of units, and construction costs in the Arctic can exceed a million dollars for a single basic home—more than triple southern Canadian prices. Overcrowding in public housing is endemic, with multiple families often sharing dwellings designed for far fewer occupants, compounding health, education, and social-welfare pressures. The territorial government’s Igluliuqatigiingniq plan aims to build 3,000 new units by 2030, but progress has been slow relative to demand.

Mining anchors the private-sector economy. Baffinland Iron Mines’ Mary River operation on northern Baffin Island is Nunavut’s largest private employer, but its proposed expansion—which would significantly increase shipping through ecologically sensitive waters that are home to a majority of the world’s narwhals—has been a polarizing issue. The federal government rejected a previous expansion application in 2022 after the Nunavut Impact Review Board found the environmental risks could not be adequately mitigated, and the company has since pursued alternative proposals to increase production.

Arctic sovereignty emerged as a prominent issue heading into the 2025 election. In March 2025, the federal government designated Iqaluit as one of three Northern Operational Support Hub locations, part of a $2.67-billion, twenty-year investment to strengthen military presence in the Arctic. For a territory where the median age is roughly 25, where Inuktitut is the mother tongue of more than half the population, and where many communities lack basic infrastructure that southern Canadians take for granted, the central question is whether defence spending and resource development will translate into tangible benefits for the people who live there.