Abe Okpik

Abe Okpik
Okpik in April 1964
Born	12 January 1928 Mackenzie Delta area, Northwest Territories
Died	10 July 1997(1997-07-10) (aged 69) Iqaluit
Occupation	Inuit community leader

Abraham "Abe" Okpik,CM (12 January 1928 – 10 July 1997) was an Inuit community leader in Canada. He was instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames rather than disc numbers. He was also the first Inuk to sit on what is now the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories and worked with Thomas Berger.

Okpik (the name means "snowy owl" in Inuvialuktun), an Inuvialuit, was born in the Mackenzie Delta area of the Northwest Territories, near Aklavik at a summer fishing camp. As a youth he, like many other Aboriginal people, contracted tuberculosis and was sent to the Charles Camsell Hospital in Edmonton. Although he was permanently injured by his dog sled he was still able to hunt and trap.

By the 1960s, Okpik was living in what was then called Frobisher Bay, now Iqaluit. He was working at Apex, the subdivision where most Inuit lived in the town's early days, at the rehabilitation centre. He was later to work for Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) as an administrator.

In 1965 Okpik was appointed to the Northwest Territories Council (5th Northwest Territories Legislative Council). At that time most of the council were from Ottawa. Okpik's role on the council was to serve as a representative for the Inuit population resident in the eastern arctic. He was not re-appointed to council after Simonie Michael was elected to the council in the 1967 general election. The government of Canada felt that Michael would serve Okpik's intended role and gave his seat to Chief John Tetlichi the first status Indian to serve on council.