"Makivik treasurer elected president"

KUUJJUAQ, Que. - Pita Aatami beat eight other candidates to win the presidency of Makivik, the Inuit-owned economic development firm.

The election was held last Thursday to replace Zebedee Nungak, who quit last month two years short of his mandate.

Aatami, an executive on many Inuit businesses and Makivik treasurer from 1993 to earlier this month, beat runner-up Liberal Senator Charlie Watt by 160 votes, 971 to 811.

Voter turnout out was one of the highest ever, said Makivik spokesman Stephen Hendrie, with 60.7 per cent of 4,667 eligible voters casting ballots.

Nungak, who gave health and family reasons for his resignation, was elected in March 1997 for a three-year term.

The new president will head the corporation until March 2000.

Aatami is chairman of First Air and a director of Air Inuit, Seaku Fisheries, Nunavik Arctic Foods and Pan Arctic Inuit Logistics.

Makivik administers funds granted to the Inuit under the 1976 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement. Over a 20-year period, it has received $90 million. -CP-