Resolute Bay leader Paul Amagoalik passes away at 73

Amagoalik was involved in the Baffin Regional Inuit Association and its transition into the QIA

Resolute Bay leader Paul Amagoalik passes away at 73 Published 11:40 am Monday, July 13, 2026 Paul Amagoalik, who represented Resolute Bay at the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA), passed away at the age of 73, the organization announced on July 13. He worked as a community director, among other leadership roles, when the QIA was still called the Baffin Regional Inuit Association and during its transition to the current organization. “Paul Amagoalik dedicated many years of his life to serving Inuit and strengthening our communities,” said QIA President Olayuk Akesuk.

“His leadership, experience, and commitment to Inuit will be remembered with gratitude. On behalf of the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, I extend my sincere condolences to Paul’s family, friends and everyone mourning his loss.” In October 2025, Amagoalik said that Inuit are not only a cultural society, but an established one that has adapted to and remained resilient in the cold, dark and often difficult environment of the Arctic, according to a social media post from the QIA.

He encouraged youth to get involved in all aspects of society from sports to politics, in order to take part in decisions for the future of Inuit. In 1953, Amagoalik was born aboard the ship C.D. Howe from Inukjuak, Quebec, — part of Nunavik — while his family being relocated to Resolute Bay, according to the IQQAUMAVARA project, which documented experiences of relocated Inuit.

The federal government was using Inuit families as human flagpoles to assert sovereignty in the North during the Cold War. “I didn’t really understand what the relocation was until I was about nine or 10 years old. That’s when I started realizing what was happening or what had happened,” Amagoalik told the project in 2012.