Leona Aglukkaq (1967 - )

Leona Aglukkaq is a political leader and negotiator from the Northwest Territories. She was the first Inuk to be appointed to Cabinet. Her focus in government was to improve the quality of life for indigenous peoples, especially in the North.

• She was one of only two women in the nineteen-member Legislative Assembly of Nunavut. She was Minister of Health and Social Services and the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.
• Aglukkaq was instrumental in passing legislation that requires Inuit traditional practices and modern health methods to be used when training midwives.
• She told her Arctic College professor that her goal was to be a deputy minister in the territorial government by the time she was thirty.
• Aglukkaq served as Conservative MP from 2008 to 2015. She was Minister of the Environment, Minister of Health, and Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.
• She was the first ever aboriginal Minister of Health. She was praised for her diplomatic leadership during the 2009 swine flu outbreak when hundreds of Canadians were infected with the H1N1 virus.
• Aglukkaq was born in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. Her first language is Inuktitut.
• She wanted to be a role model for Inuit girls and women, just as Nellie Cournoyea was for her.