Order of Nunavut appointments named for 2015

Tagak Curley, William Lyall and Father Robert Lechat are this year's inductees to the Order of Nunavut, legislative assembly speaker George Qulaut announced Friday.

"Tagak Curley and Bill Lyall have both made significant contributions to Nunavut as elected representatives and business leaders," Qulaut said in a news release.

"As a life-long resident of Igloolik, I can personally attest to the esteem in which Father Lechat is held for his commitment to the well-being of Inuit and our language."

Curley was a longtime staple of Nunavut politics, serving as an MLA and cabinet minister in the Nunavut legislative assembly from 2003 until 2014. He also served in the Northwest Territories legislative assembly from 1979 to 1987.

Before that, he was the founding president of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, the forerunner to the national Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. He has also worked in the private sector.

Lyall has served on the board of Arctic Co-operatives Limited and the Nunavut Trust. He was a member of the first fully-elected Council of the Northwest Territories in 1975 (which was referred to as the legislative assembly after 1976) and served on the Nunavut Implementation Commission.

Both Curley and Lyall are members of the Order of Canada.

Originally from France, Lechat is a Catholic priest with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who spent more than 50 years in parishes across the North, including 25 years in Igloolik and Hall Beach. He's also known for helping preserve and promote Inuktitut.

The three will be invested into the Order of Nunavut at a ceremony later this fall, to be presided over by newly-named Nunavut Commissioner Nellie Kusugak, who was sworn in last week.