Ann Meekitjuk Hanson

Ann Meekitjuk Hanson (Inuktitut: ᐋᓐ ᒦᖀᑦᔩᒃ ᐦᐋᓐᓱᓐ/an miiqitjuk hansun) (born May 22, 1946, Qaktut, Northwest Territories, now Nunavut^[1]) was the Commissioner of Nunavut. She served from April 21, 2005 until April 10, 2010.^[2] Hanson, like all Inuit born between the 1940s and the 1970s, was labelled with a disc number by the Government of Canada, which, in her case was E7-121.^[3]

She spent the first 11 years of her life speaking only Inuktitut and living in Qakutut and Kimmirut. She attended schools in Iqaluit, Baker Lake (Qamanituaq), and Toronto, where she was known as Annie Cotterill.^[3] She studied community development at Saint Francis Xavier University, geography at the University of Windsor and received a diploma with honors in journalism from Nunavut Arctic College.

Hanson's career has been diverse. She has been a civil servant, broadcaster, journalist and author.^[1] She has used her skills in Inuktitut throughout her career. Joining the federal government in 1964, she served as a secretary and interpreter/translator in the office of Northwest Territories MP Eugène Rhéaume.

She joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a receptionist, later becoming an announcer and producer in Inuktitut broadcasting. Hanson was the first editor of the Iqaluit community newspaper Inukshuk, which later became Nunatsiaq News. She is the author of Show Me, a book written in Inuktitut and English.

In addition to her work in journalism, Hanson also served with the government of the Northwest Territories as a community development worker, counsellor and deputy commissioner.

Hanson has spent considerable time as a volunteer, helping to start a number of organizations in Iqaluit. These organizations include the Juvenile Court Committee, the Elders Group, the Inuit Cultural Group, and the Quinuajuaq Society.

Hanson lives in Iqaluit with her husband, Robert Hanson. They have five grown daughters.

Arms

Arms of Ann Meekitjuk Hanson

Notes The arms of Ann Meekitjuk Hanson, presented on a roundel rather than the escutcheon shape traditional in European heraldry, consist of:[4] Crest Issuant from five purple saxifrage flowers, a rock ptarmigan wings elevated and addorsed proper. Escutcheon Purpure a qulliq Argent enflamed Or. Supporters Dexter the figure of Sedna proper vested Or queued Argent, sinister a ring seal proper. Compartment Barry wavy Purpure and Argent flanking a mount of tundra proper. Motto Co-Operation Enhances Peace (In English and in Inuktitut)

See also

• Notable Aboriginal people of Canada

References

1. 1 2 3 Snyder, Lorraine (2009). "Hanson, Ann Meekitjuk". The Canadian Encyclopedia > Biography > Commissioners. Historica-Dominion. Archived from the original on 2011-06-08. Retrieved 2009-10-03. 
2. ↑ New Nunavut commissioner to be named soon
3. 1 2 What's In A Name? by Ann Meekitjuk Hanson
4. ↑ Canadian Heraldic Authority (Volume V), Ottawa, 2007, p. 146 

Heads of State for the Northwest Territories
Commissioner 1905–present	White Cory Rowatt Camsell Keenleyside Young Robertson Sivertz Hodgson Parker Norris Maksagak Marion Hansen Whitford Tuccaro
Deputy Commissioner 1921–present	Gibson Cunningham Brown Hodgson Parker Pilot Semmler Hanson Maksagak Marion Mains Whitford Thom
Lieutenant Governor 1870–1905	McDougall Archibald Johnson Morris Laird Dewdney Royal Mackintosh Cameron Forget