lori idlout (ba'97) had a sense of the larger world around her even as a young child. "when my mother asked me what i wanted to be when i grew up, i said, 'the first inuk prime minister of canada.'"
as the new democratic party member of parliament for nunavut since 2021, lori is a passionate advocate in ottawa for her constituents on priorities including nunavut's infrastructure and housing crises.
growing up in the town of igloolik in nunavut (formerly the northwest territories), lori's academic journey was shaped by her community and family.
"my dad committed suicide when i was around seven years old," she says. "i have uncles who died by suicide, and it's not well known, but the assumption is that my dad's dad died by suicide. i was always interested in how to understand that."
when considering postsecondary options, lori's guidance counsellor suggested 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 . "he explained that the environment would be more familiar compared to a large urban centre like toronto, and that there were other indigenous 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 there."
lori pursued studies in psychology, and she credits her time at lakehead and the friendships she made there with helping fuel her political career.
"i've always been thankful for the indigenous 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 i met and the 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 native 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 association (lunsa). they were the ones who helped me understand my history as an inuk in canada and what canada had been doing to indigenous peoples. that really helped me understand the challenges my dad would have experienced."
after graduating with a bachelor of arts in psychology in 1997, lori returned home as preparations for the creation of the territory of nunavut were intensifying.
lori's devotion to her constituents, and to nunavut communities, drives her work as a politician. in an april 2, 2024, article in the nunavut news, lori wrote, "some homes are keeping cracking floors together with nothing more than duct tape. tuberculosis persists in our communities, even though it has been practically eradicated in the rest of canada. we pay the highest prices for groceries, despite programs like nutrition north that are supposed to make things more affordable."
she applied to a senior management training program and went to yellowknife to study government, then to the department of health before moving to iqaluit. she worked as a policy analyst and was responsible for creating some of the policies that the nunavut government would use to develop programs. lori also worked in the non-profit sector including as the executive director of the nunavut embrace life council, which works with communities to take a life-affirming approach to wellbeing.
"i didn't want youth to experience what i had—suicides and being in the foster care system," lori says.
a return to the arctic
in 2018, lori graduated with a juris doctor from the university of ottawa and began practicing law in iqaluit with her firm, qusagaq law.
currently, as a politician, lori wants to make sure that she is engaging youth and helping them understand the importance of voting.
"i encourage them to use their voice, because when there are more of us talking, we can fight for more and not put up with injustice," she says.
when lori was sworn in as an mp in 2021, it was important to her that the ceremony be conducted in inuktitut, her mother tongue.
"because of residential schools, a lot of nunavummiut don't speak their language or practice their culture," she says. "the education system doesn't adequately support inuktitut in our communities. but we can make small changes."
lori believes that education has a key role to play in truth and reconciliation, and that reconciliation is not just about events in this country's past.
"we are two polarized societies that are not meeting—reconciliation needs to encompass every canadian. canada has committed an injustice to all of its citizens by keeping that history hidden, but now canadians are learning how canada treated indigenous people."
"too many schools do not include that history. if we had a better curriculum, there would be less ignorance and systemic racism. if more canadians realized why there is intergenerational trauma, we would have a more compassionate canada."
addressing the needs of seniors is especially important to lori. currently, many nunavut communities do not have long-term care facilities or seniors' homes, forcing community members to leave. lori raised this issue in the house of parliament in 2021 saying, "...our elders in nunavut are being exiled from their families, from their homeland and from their communities because they cannot access care in the territory."
despite the atrocities experienced by indigenous people, lori says that nunavummiut continue to demonstrate their strength: they are speaking inuktitut, using dog teams to hunt, wearing traditional clothing, and continuing cultural practices like throat singing. "we are still here," she says.
but, she adds, colonization has not disappeared, and the harms faced by nunavut communities persist. "the government continues to perpetuate poverty, to criminalize indigenous people for protecting lands, and to keep us marginalized by not investing in housing."
with a federal election scheduled for 2025, lori says she has a lot of work to do before then, especially given the urgent crises the north is grappling with.
"the focus for the rest of my term is advocating for more investments," lori says. "there are too many gaps in services, overcrowded housing, toxic mould in buildings, and not enough infrastructure."
"inuit leaders before me had a dream to create nunavut," she says. "those dreams were given to me, and, as an mp, i can share that more widely, and we can keep that dream going for our grandchildren and future generations."