Natan Obed in conversation with Paul Wells: Maclean’s Live

The president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami sits down for a candid chat with one of Canada’s best political analysts

March 25, 2019

Only a few weeks after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an historic apology to the Inuit people of Canada, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Natan Obed, sits down for a live interview with Maclean’s senior writer Paul Wells at the recently renovated National Arts Centre in Ottawa. This is the second conversation of the second season of Maclean’s Live, presented by the Canadian Bankers Association in partnership with the NAC and CPAC. Tweet along with the hashtag #MacleansLive, and follow our liveblog below for all the highlights. CPAC will broadcast the conversation at a later date. Also! Sign up for our daily politics newsletter, a morning must-read in the nation’s capital.

Why are we doing this, anyway?

Natan Obed has served as president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national voice of Inuit people in Canada, since 2015. Obed hails from Nain, the northernmost community in the Nunatsiavut region of Labrador, and has lived in Ottawa for 10 years. Obed is at the forefront of Canada’s conversation about reconciliation with Indigenous people—and he’s not afraid to call out Canadians who don’t take that conversation seriously. (After Trudeau apologized on behalf of the government for historic mistreatment of Inuit with TB, Obed wrote an op-ed for Maclean’s criticizing reporters in the room asking questions about almost everything else—and disrespecting Inuit in the process.) Just a few months before the federal election—and 20 years since Nunavut became a territory—Obed sits down with Paul Wells to talk about the most burning issues of the day.

This is the second Maclean’s Live event of 2019, and the 11th conversation Wells has conducted with leading Canadian political figures. Last month, he sat down with Canadian ambassador to the U.S. David MacNaughton. Last December, he sat down with former prime minister Jean Chrétien. On Nov. 28, he sat down with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. In October, he chatted with renowned Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky. In September, he sat down with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In June, he sat down with Jane Philpott, minister of Indigenous services. In May, he sat down with Jason Kenney, leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party. In April, he sat down with Katie Telford, chief of staff to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In March, he sat down with Conservative leader Andrew Scheer. And in February, he sat down with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. Watch those conversations below.