The Honourable Hunter Tootoo Hᐊᓐᑕ ᑐᑐ PC
Tootoo in 2015
Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
In office November 4, 2015 – May 31, 2016
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Preceded by	Gail Shea
Succeeded by	Dominic LeBlanc
Member of Parliament forNunavut
In office October 19, 2015 – September 11, 2019
Preceded by	Leona Aglukkaq
Succeeded by	Mumilaaq Qaqqaq
7thSpeaker of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly[1]
In office May 31, 2011 – November 15, 2013
Preceded by	Paul Okalik
Succeeded by	George Qulaut
Member of theLegislative Assembly of Nunavut forIqaluit Centre
In office February 15, 1999 – October 28, 2013
Preceded by	Territory Established
Succeeded by	Riding Dissolved
Personal details
Born	(1963-08-18)August 18, 1963 (age 62) Rankin Inlet,Northwest Territories (nowNunavut), Canada[2]
Party	Independent[3]
Other political affiliations	Liberal[3] New Democratic (1997-1999)

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Hunter A. TootooPC (Inuktitut: Hᐊᓐᑕ ᑐᑐ; born August 18, 1963) is a Canadian politician who served as theMember of Parliament forNunavut from2015 to2019. Elected as aLiberal to theHouse of Commons, he was appointedMinister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard byJustin Trudeau on November 4, 2015. Tootoo resigned from that position on May 31, 2016, to take a leave from Parliament and completed a two-month treatment program for alcohol addiction. He sat as an independent member for the remainder of the42nd Parliament and did not run for re-election in2019.

Before federal politics, Tootoo served as a Member of theLegislative Assembly of Nunavut, where he represented the riding ofIqaluit Centre from 1999 to 2013. Tootoo wasSpeaker of the Legislative Assembly from 2011 to 2013. He was a member of theNew Democratic Party from 1997 to 1999.^[4][5] Tootoo has represented Nunavut at theCanadian Curling Club Championships multiple times and became the president of the territorial curling association in 2020.

Tootoo was born inRankin Inlet, the son of Batiste Tootoo, anInuk, and Sally Luttmer (née Wolfe), originally fromMontreal and descended fromLithuanianJewish immigrants.^[6] He is a businessman in northern Canada, and was the co-founder of theIqaluit branch of Arctic Insurance Brokers Ltd. Tootoo is a former member of the Northwest Territories Co-op Business Development Board, the Sport North Board of Directors, and Arctic Co-operatives Ltd.^[5]

Tootoo has long been involved in government administration. He served as regional coordinator for the town ofArviat 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 thePublic Service Alliance of Canada in this period.^[5]

He began his political career as a member of the Hamlet Council of Rankin Inlet.^[5] In thefederal election of 1997, he ran for the Canadian House of Commons as a candidate of theNew Democratic Party in theriding ofNunavut. He finished third, behindLiberalNancy Karetak-Lindell. Tootoo spoke out against the Liberal government's gun registration program during this campaign.^{[citation needed]}

Nunavut became a separate jurisdiction in 1999, and Tootoo declared himself a candidate for the territory'sfirst general election. He was easily elected inIqaluit Centre, defeating three opponents. He was returned again in the2004 election, although by a narrower margin, and again in the2008 election. During his time in the legislature, he served as Minister Responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation, Minister Responsible for Homelessness and Minister Responsible for the Qulliq Energy Corporation.^[5]

The government of Nunavut is structured along non-partisan lines, and all members are elected and serve as independents. Tootoo was often described as the unofficial leader of the legislative opposition. In 2003, he successfully tabled a motion to removeJack Anawak from the Nunavutcabinet.

Tootoo was selected on July 27, 2015, as theLiberal candidate for theNunavut federal electoral riding in the2015 Canadian federal election.^[7] He stepped down as the chair of the Nunavut Planning Commission shortly afterwards.^[8] On October 19, 2015, Tootoo won the election, defeating Conservative incumbent and cabinet ministerLeona Aglukkaq.^[9]

On November 4, 2015, Tootoo was appointed asMinister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard in the29th Canadian Ministry;^[10] He became the first Fisheries Minister to be fromNorthern Canada.^[11] He resigned from the cabinet on May 31, 2016, citing issues with addiction.^[12] Tootoo also resigned from the Liberal caucus and his cabinet role was filled byDominic LeBlanc.^[12]The Globe and Mail reported that Tootoo entered treatment for alcohol abuse.^[13]

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.^[14] In the same month, after a report byThe 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.^[15][16]

In September 2016,Robert Fife ofThe 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.^[15]

He did not seek re-election in the 2019 federal election and said that he would be leaving politics.^[17]

In November 2020, Tootoo became the president of theNunavut Curling Association.^[18] His term started amid logistical difficulties caused by theCOVID-19 pandemic in Nunavut that closed the rinks inRankin Inlet andCambridge Bay during qualifications for theBrier and theScotties Tournament of Hearts.^[19]

Tootoo was thesecond for the Nunavut curling team at the2021 and the2024 Canadian Curling Club Championships. At 61, he was one of the oldest competitors at the latter competition.^[20][21]

Tootoo is the cousin of hockey playerJordin Tootoo and the nephew of Manitoba NDP MLAGeorge Hickes. Tootoo's mother isJewish from Montreal. Tootoo is also an avid curler. He has played for the Nunavut team at fourCanadian Curling Club Championships (2013,^[22]2019,2021,2024).^[23] In 2021, Tootoo was a member of theWade Kingdon team at theNunavut Brier Playdowns. They lost in a best-of-five series, three games to two.^[24][25]

• 1963 births
• Living people
• 20th-century Inuit politicians
• 21st-century Inuit politicians
• Canadian businesspeople
• Canadian Inuit sportspeople
• Inuit from the Northwest Territories
• New Democratic Party candidates for the Canadian House of Commons
• Jewish Canadian politicians
• Canadian people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
• 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
• People from Iqaluit
• People from Rankin Inlet
• Curlers from Nunavut
• Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
• Liberal Party of Canada MPs
• Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nunavut
• Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
• Members of the 29th Canadian Ministry
• Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons
• Inuit from Nunavut
• 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut
• 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada

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