Ludy Pudluk, former MLA and Resolute mayor, dies at 76

Ludy Pudluk, a Nunavut elder and former Northwest Territories MLA, has died following a long illness.

The Legislative Assemblies of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut announced the death of Pudluk Wednesday in a joint news release. He was 76 years old.

Pudluk, originally from the Pond Inlet area, was relocated to Resolute by the Canadian government in the 1950s and spent most of the rest of his life there. He served as a member of the N.W.T. Legislative Assembly from 1975 to 1995 as the MLA for the High Arctic district, and then the Quttiktuq constituency following redistricting in 1991.

After his tenure as an MLA, Pudluk served as mayor of Resolute and was inducted into the Order of Nunavut in 2018.

The release stated that Pudluk was "instrumental" in the movement that led to Nunavut's creation in 1999.

"Mr. Pudluk was a dedicated spokesperson for the North, was a strong climate change activist, and made significant contributions to the creation of Nunavut," N.W.T. Speaker Jackson Lafferty said in the release.