Kimmirut school principal runs for Green Party in upcoming election

Douglas Roy is the Green Party candidate for Nunavut in the upcoming federal election.

Roy is a newcomer to the territory, having accepted the job of principal at Kimmirut's Qaqqalik School.

Before this the 72-year-old has worked as a principal across Western Canada most recently in Vancouver, but he has also lived in China and the Middle East.

He says his main issue is climate change.

"I'm running because I have four kids under 12. And I don't want to leave them a world where you can't breathe the air or drink the water," Roy said.

One of his children will be attending his school in Kimmirut and his wife, who's from the Philippines, is excited to see snow.

Meet the Nunavut candidates: Green Party's Douglas Roy

5 years ago

Duration 4:56

CBC Northbeat's Juanita Taylor will speak to every candidate aiming to represent one of the territories in the Oct. 21 election. Watch her conversation with Douglas Roy, the Green candidate for Nunavut.

Roy ran federally for the Greens in 2011 in British Columbia and was the deputy leader of the province's Green party.

In the past, Green party candidates for Nunavut have lived in other provinces and not visited the territory.

In 2015, a teacher in Nunavut ran for the Greens announcing he expected to take last place and even if he won the election, wouldn't take office.

But Roy isn't of that mindset.

"We need to send a message, even if it's increasing the Green vote. It shows the people in Ottawa that this is something they better think about," Roy said, speaking about climate change.

He said nobody expects the Greens to win, so it would be quite the message if they did.

Roy gives voters an option other than voting for him: he said he'd be very happy "even if they just think about it and change their lifestyle a little bit."

He advocatesfor switching to sustainable food and working toward green energies.

On the topic of reconciliation, Roy said his goals on climate change align with Inuit.

"I've never felt that there was a split between me and the communities I lived in because we were all on the same page. We are all looking for the same goal."

"I think we, up here, are going to be the recipients of a lot of problems caused by people in other areas one of which is the climate change issue," Roy said.

Roy is running against the NDP's Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, the Liberal's Megan Pizzo-Lyall and the Conservative's Leona Aglukkaq.