Talk:Simonie Michael

Improving the article for FAC
Since you asked at WT:FAC I looked over the article. It has definitely improved a lot since the last time I read it! One thing I noticed was in the early life section, it states: "Michael would later note that the American military did not provide compensation for much of the labour that Inuit workers performed including three months of work transporting wood. To make space for the military construction projects, Inuit residents were relocated to a nearby island, and Michael later described that no housing was provided for them and no means of transportation were given for them to travel between the island and the mainland." It seems to me that it is likely possible to verify some of this information from other sources (i.e. beyond Michael's statements) which would allow these incidents to be phrased more definitively. If the only source for this information is Michael's statements than "note" and "describe" may not be the best word choice per MOS:WTW. (t &#183; c)  buidhe  18:31, 18 September 2021 (UTC)

Inuk/Inuuk/Inuit
I have been meaning, ever since these fixes by, to go back and standardize the usage of Inuk/Inuuk/Inuit in accordance with reliable sources. I have now implemented the standards of the Canadian federal public service to use Inuit either as a noun for a group greater than two or as an adjective, and never followed by the word "people", while Inuk is a singular noun and never an adjective, and Inuuk (in accordance with other sources like this one) is the noun for two people. Hopefully I've got it all right this time. - Astrophobe  (talk) 17:54, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

first elected?
This article claims the subject was the first elected Inuk, but Abe Okpik says he was the first one, and that Michael replaced him. Secretlondon (talk) 19:14, 5 March 2023 (UTC)


 * One was appointed and the other elected? It's a bit subtle. Secretlondon (talk) 19:17, 5 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I just noticed this question. Yes, that's the distinction. Abe Okpik was a legislator in a provincial/territorial legislature, but he was not elected to that position. Other Inuit were certainly elected for many other positions before Simonie Michael, but no Inuk had previously been elected as a legislator in a provincial or territorial legislature. This is how Michael is consistently described across independent reliable sources (e.g. 1, 2, 3). I don't think this is splitting hairs, since appointment is a very different process from election. For example, a woman has served as Prime Minister of Canada, but a woman has never been elected to the post in the sense that none has been the leader of a party that won a plurality of parliamentary seats, formed government, and named her as the Prime Minister. That's a distinction that I believe matters to a lot of people, and when it happens, many will justifiably feel that it is a momentous occasion worthy of note, separate and apart from Kim Campbell's prior accomplishments. My reading is that being the first person from a certain group to win a post through an election is a standard milestone for reliable sources to focus on in coverage of elections, representation, and political history. - Astrophobe  (talk) 18:47, 26 September 2023 (UTC)