Hunter Tootoo

Canadian politician

Tootoo has long been involved in government administration. He served as regional coordinator for the town of Arviat in 1993. He became the administration officer for the NWT Department of Recreation and Tourism in 1995, and was named as the corporate control officer of the NWT Department of Finance later in the same year. In 1997, he became assistant director of the NWT Housing Corporation in Iqaluit. Tootoo was a member of the Public Service Alliance of Canada in this period. He stepped down as the chair of the Nunavut Planning Commission shortly afterwards. On October 19, 2015, Tootoo won the election, defeating Conservative incumbent and cabinet minister Leona Aglukkaq.

On November 4, 2015, Tootoo was appointed as Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard in the 29th Canadian Ministry; He became the first Fisheries Minister to be from Northern Canada. He resigned from the cabinet on May 31, 2016, citing issues with addiction. Tootoo also resigned from the Liberal caucus and his cabinet role was filled by Dominic LeBlanc.

By July 25, 2016, Tootoo completed his alcohol addiction treatment program and resumed his duties as an MP starting with an invitation to a constituency open house on the 28th. In the same month, after a report by The Globe and Mail, Tootoo admitted that he had had a "consensual but inappropriate" relationship with one of his female staffers which led to his resignation, which had been kept quiet in respect for the privacy of the other parties. In September 2016, Robert Fife of The Globe and Mail reported that after Tootoo broke off his relationship with his staffer in favour of a relationship with her mother, the staffer damaged his Parliamentary office, which prompted Tootoo to tender his resignation to Prime Minister Trudeau.

Tootoo is the cousin of hockey player Jordin Tootoo and the nephew of Manitoba NDP MLA George Hickes. Tootoo's mother is Jewish from Montreal. Tootoo is also an avid curler. He has played for the Nunavut team at three Canadian Curling Club Championships (2013, 2019 and 2021). In 2021, Tootoo was a member of the Wade Kingdon team at the Nunavut Brier Playdowns. They lost in a best of five series, three games to two.

2008 Nunavut general election: Iqaluit CentreNameVote%Hunter Tootoo31761.7%Madeleine Redfern14628.4%Joe Sageaktook519.9%Total Valid Ballots514100%Voter TurnoutRejected Ballots

2004 Nunavut general election: Iqaluit CentreNameVote%Hunter Tootoo26344.80%Mike Courtney16728.45%Natsiq Alainga Kango7813.29%Mary Ellen Thomas376.30%Kevin MacCormack294.94%Pauloosie Paniloo132.22%Total Valid Ballots587100%Voter Turnout 101.73%Rejected Ballots 2

1999 Nunavut general election: Iqaluit CentreNameVote%Hunter Tootoo26154.95%Lynda Gunn9520.00%Johnny Nowdlak6413.47%Bill Strickland5511.58%Total Valid Ballots475100%Voter Turnout %Rejected Ballots