32 Facts About Zebedee Nungak

Zebedee Nungak is a Canadian Inuk author, actor, essayist, journalist, and politician.

Zebedee Nungak then became one of the founding members of the Northern Quebec Inuit Association, and a signatory to the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement.

Zebedee Nungak later served as vice president, and eventually president, of the Makivik Corporation, where he actively worked to ensure the recognition of Inuit rights.

Zebedee Nungak was born in the community of Saputiligait, Nunavik, Quebec, a small village south of Puvirnituq on 23 April 1951.

The location was listed as "Kenoruk's camp" by the Anglican priest who had recorded his birthplace; Zebedee Nungak mused that it was likely due to the inability for the reverend to spell the location's name correctly.

Zebedee Nungak's mother was biracial, having been born to an Inuk mother and a Scottish father; Zebedee Nungak never met his maternal grandfather.

Zebedee Nungak was one of seven children, alongside Talasia, Poasie, Harry, Aliva, Alasie, and Joanasie.

Until he was 12 years old, Zebedee Nungak attended day school at the Povungnituk Federal Day School.

When Zebedee Nungak was 12 years old, on 14 August 1963, he was taken as a part of what was called the "Eskimo Experiment" by the Government of Canada.

Zebedee Nungak was isolated from his family who were left unable to contact him following his relocation to Ottawa.

Once Zebedee Nungak had returned, he faced ridicule from his Inuit peers, but felt simultaneously unable to fit into the southern society he was taken to.

Zebedee Nungak had lost key skills that other members in his community had developed; he was unable to remove the seal's bile sack, or cut snow blocks using a, a kind of snow knife.

Zebedee Nungak joined the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs with the goal of establishing Inuit self-government.

Zebedee Nungak worked as an editor for, a trilingual newsletter, and as a broadcaster for CBC North Iqaluit.

Zebedee Nungak was described as one of the leading figures in the building of the Inuit region known as Nunavik.

Additionally, Zebedee Nungak was the manager of Saputik, an organization tasked with holding Quebec's Inuit lands.

From 1984 and 1987, Zebedee Nungak was co-chair of the Inuit Committee on National Issues, negotiating with the Canadian government that Inuit rights be enshrined within the Canadian constitution during the aboriginal rights constitutional conferences.

Zebedee Nungak is a prolific journalist, having written over sixty articles for a variety of magazines.

Zebedee Nungak's writings focus on the preservation of Inuit stories and to increase awareness on the preservation of the Inuit languages.

Zebedee Nungak has previously published collections of stories from Puvirnituq, collections on the deliberations of Nunavik elders, and the trilingual Illirijavut.

Zebedee Nungak has been an outspoken proponent of Inuit linguistic and cultural preservation.

One of the subjects of Zebedee Nungak's works is the fictional study "Qallunology", the Inuit study of white people.

Zebedee Nungak ran for the seat of Duplessis as an independent politician during the 1976 Quebec general election.

Zebedee Nungak subsequently ran in the 1979 Canadian federal election, again as an independent politician, running in the riding of Abitibi.

Zebedee Nungak lost the race, only receiving 986 votes, or two percent of the vote.

Zebedee Nungak was openly critical of the Quebec sovereignty movement and the, who had pushed for an independent Quebec.

Zebedee Nungak expressed his concerns that an independent Quebec would potentially isolate the Inuit of Nunavik by severing their ties with the other Inuit in Canada and subsequently end the special relationship that Nunavik had with the federal government.

Zebedee Nungak had pushed for the federal government to intervene in the scenario Quebec was to become independent.

Zebedee Nungak was critical of the sovereignty movement, whose rhetoric ignored Indigenous voices as they were deemed "inconsequential" compared to the Francophone Quebecois electorate.

Zebedee Nungak formerly served as a councillor for the community of Kangirsuk.

In 2017, Zebedee Nungak received the National Order of Quebec by Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, during the 2017 Canadian honours in recognition to his contributions to Quebec's society.

In 2021, Nungak was one of five recipients of the First Peoples' Medal by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, J Michel Doyon, to honour their contributions in their communities and abroad.