Simonie Michael facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Simonie Michael
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Michael in 2002
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| Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories for Eastern Arctic | |
| In office 1966–1970 |
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| Preceded by | District created |
| Succeeded by | Bryan Pearson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1933 Iqaluit, Northwest Territories, Canada |
| Died | November 15, 2008 (aged 74–75) Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada |
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Simonie Michael (Inuktitut: ᓴᐃᒨᓂ ᒪᐃᑯᓪ; 1933 – November 15, 2008) was a Canadian politician. He was the very first Inuk person elected to a government assembly in Canada. Simonie Michael was from the eastern Northwest Territories, which is now part of Nunavut.
Before he became a politician, Michael worked as a carpenter and owned his own business. He was also one of the few people who could translate between Inuktitut (the Inuit language) and English. He played a big role in helping Inuit communities get better housing and was a strong voice for his community in Iqaluit. He was part of several important groups, including the one that came before the Iqaluit City Council.
After being elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories in 1966, Michael worked on improving things like roads, buildings, and health care. He is especially remembered for bringing attention to a system where Inuit people were given numbers instead of using their family names. This system was very unfair. Michael helped make sure the government started Project Surname, which allowed Inuit to officially use their traditional names again.
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Simonie Michael's Early Life
Simonie Michael was born in 1933, somewhere between Kimmirut and Iqaluit. He grew up near a place called Apex, Iqaluit. His stepfather worked for the Hudson's Bay Company.
During World War II, when Michael was a child, the United States Air Force built air bases near Iqaluit. Michael worked at these bases doing many jobs, like washing dishes, cooking, and later operating heavy machines. The building of these airfields helped Iqaluit grow into a city. However, Michael remembered that the American military didn't always pay Inuit workers fairly. He also recalled that Inuit families were moved to a nearby island for the military projects, but they weren't given ways to travel back and forth.
Even though there was a rule that kept different races apart in Iqaluit during the 1940s and 1950s, Michael worked for the American military. This helped him learn English. By the time he was about 15 or 16, he was known for being a great translator. Some people said he was the only Inuk in Iqaluit who could translate between Inuktitut and English in the mid-1950s. While working at the base, he became good friends with Joe Tikivik, who later became his business partner.
Because he could understand and translate English, Canadian government workers often asked for Michael's help. This meant he had many early experiences dealing with the government. Around this time, Michael got married. He and his wife lived with her parents when they first started their life together.
Working and Helping the Community
Before he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories at age 33, Simonie Michael was a carpenter. He also ran a taxi and bus service. With his friends Abe Okpik and Joe Tikivik, Michael started a cleaning and construction company called Inuk Ltd. At one point, this company had 50 employees.
Michael was a very active person in Iqaluit who worked hard to improve things for his community. He started a housing group that built 15 new homes in Iqaluit. At that time, building co-operative housing was a very important way for Inuit people to help each other. In 1956, Michael and his wife were the first people in Iqaluit to live in a house that had good insulation.
Simonie Michael was also an artist who made sculptures of animals. Some of his sculptures have been sold, and others are kept in the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery.
Before he ran for a territory-wide political job, Michael had already been part of almost every important council and board in Iqaluit where Inuit people had a say. This included the local council that came before the Iqaluit City Council. In 1953, Michael was also one of two Inuit chosen to represent Canada at the Coronation of Elizabeth II (when Queen Elizabeth II became queen).
Becoming a Politician
Simonie Michael was encouraged to run in a special election in 1966 for the Northwest Territories Legislative Council. This encouragement came from Stu Hodgson, who later became the leader of the Northwest Territories. New areas had been created, adding more members to the council. Michael ran in the Eastern Arctic area against two other candidates. He won the election and became a member of the 5th Northwest Territories Legislative Council.
Michael's election was a big moment because he was the first Inuk person ever elected to a government assembly in a Canadian province or territory. This happened before Peter Ittinuar became the first Inuit member of the federal government. While some people thought Michael was the first Indigenous Canadian elected, others like Frank Calder had been elected earlier. Michael was the first elected Inuit politician, but not the very first Inuit politician overall. That was Abe Okpik, who was appointed to the Northwest Territories Legislative Council in 1965.
Working in Government
Michael's First Speech
Simonie Michael's first speech to the Legislative Assembly was 90 minutes long and he gave it in Inuktitut. In his speech, he said that unfair practices were still common in the Northwest Territories, even though laws against discrimination had been passed. He gave an example of the Arctic Circle Club lounge, where Inuit people were not allowed to drink. After Michael's speech, the lounge changed this rule. However, because Michael spoke in Inuktitut, the assembly later made a rule that all future speeches had to be in English.
Ending the Disc Number System
The issue Simonie Michael is most famous for is his work against the Inuit disc number system. In the 1940s, the Government of Canada decided it was hard to keep track of Inuit people using their traditional names. So, they gave each Inuk person a number, like a dog tag. Michael spoke out against this system in the Legislative Assembly. He explained that his mail was sent to "Simonie E7-551" instead of "Simonie Michael." He told the leader of the Northwest Territories that his mail should be sent to his full name.
Even though Abe Okpik had brought up this issue before, Michael is widely given credit for getting the attention of the news and making the government act. This led to Project Surname. In this project, Abe Okpik traveled across the Northwest Territories between 1968 and 1971. He recorded each Inuk person's preferred family name to replace their disc numbers. Michael's speech about the disc number system is seen as the main reason this unfair system finally ended.
Improving Health and Buildings
Michael was also involved in several efforts to improve buildings and health care in the government assembly. He pushed for better health care in Iqaluit. At the time, people who needed serious medical care were often sent away from Iqaluit to hospitals elsewhere. This meant sick people had to travel and be away from their families and communities during their treatment. Michael wanted to change this.
Focus on Housing
Housing was a very important topic for Michael in the government. In 1969, he helped with laws to make living conditions better in Clyde River. This town had 210 people, but it was built on soft, wet ground over permafrost (ground that is always frozen). This made building very difficult and caused problems with water drainage. There was also poor health care and a crowded school with 88 students, which was more than it could handle. Michael was active in discussions about how to fix these problems with a large building program.
In 1969, Michael also visited the Belcher Islands with Stu Hodgson. He found the housing situation there to be one of the worst in the Northwest Territories. He wrote to the federal government and asked for 20 new permanent houses to be built there. These efforts, along with those of the leader of the Northwest Territories, made the federal government study the situation and eventually provide materials for emergency housing.
Later Life and What He Left Behind
After serving for four years in the government assembly, Simonie Michael was replaced by Bryan Pearson in 1970. After leaving government, some of Michael's small animal sculptures were sold. He also gave some interviews about his life. He passed away in Iqaluit on November 15, 2008, when he was 75 years old.
Michael was elected only 16 years after Inuit people gained the right to vote in 1950. And it was only 6 years after voting was made truly available in Inuit communities in 1960. This expansion of voting rights was still debated; for example, in 1962, a politician named Thomas Crerar even said it was a "mistake" and wanted to take away the right for Inuit in the eastern Arctic to vote. The year 1967, when Michael started working in the government council, was also the first time the council met permanently in the north. Before that, it often met in Ottawa and governed the Northwest Territories from far away.
Because of this history, Eva Aariak, who was the leader of Nunavut, said that Michael's election was "an important step forward in the evolution of our territory and its democratic institutions." Other experts, Peter Kulchyski and Frank James Tester, also said that Michael was an important part of a special group of Inuit leaders. They said these leaders "took their chance to create a new way of doing politics in the Arctic," and their leadership "deserves special recognition." As the first elected Inuk in a Canadian government assembly, Michael said his job was "telling white people about the Eskimo".
Simonie Michael received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Two roads in Apex were named after him: Simonie Michael Crescent and Simonie Michael Lane. In 2020, a boat that Michael owned was found at Apex beach, and there were ideas to save it as a historical item.
Images for kids
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Simonie Michael was born near Apex, Iqaluit.
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Michael was elected to the Northwest Territories Legislative Council in 1966, when it met in Resolute, Nunavut.
