Serving his community far from home, he keeps their interests and his family close to his heart while doing the best he can for them every day as an elected official. Fred Pedersen was born in Greenland, where his mother is from, but was raised in Kugluktuk. He was elected in 2025 to represent Cambridge Bay in Nunavut’s legislative assembly and serves as Deputy Speaker. As a member of the legislative assembly, Pedersen brings forward the concerns of his community to the government.

Before being elected, Pedersen was executive director of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, an organization he served for twenty-three years. He also worked for the governments of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, was a municipal councillor and chair of the Nunavut Arbitration Board. After high school he worked in the oil and gas industry and later had an Arctic Cat dealership. He has been a volunteer firefighter and member of the Community Search Rescue group in Cambridge Bay. He has six kids, eleven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. When he’s not working, he enjoys hunting, fishing, camping and snowmobile racing.

When it came to entering territorial politics, Pedersen was motivated to follow that path when people in the community who knew how well he had done at Kitikmeot Inuit Association in helping it grow felt he could help the community obtain benefits previous MLAs had been unable to achieve. Beyond their encouragement, his family has a long history in politics, with his mother having been the first Inuit elected member of the Territorial Legislative Assembly and his father having been an elected member of the Northwest Territories legislature, too. With politics running in the family it’s always been an area of interest for him.

As far as education went, Pedersen went through the regular school system and attended college to receive a diploma in Public and Business Administration. He also learned a lot on the job and is a big proponent of on the job training in addition to formal education.

Over the course of his life, Pedersen also faced obstacles, like when he had to transfer from the Kugluktuk education system after grade 9 to go to school in Yellowknife and Edmonton for his remaining high school years. He found what he had learned had’t completely prepared him but by working hard and staying open to learning, his knowledge base grew. Listening to the encouragement of his father to complete his education helped him stay on track. He took a break after grade 11 to work construction and quickly realized he needed to finish his full schooling to be able to move up. His dad’s words of wisdom helped him along the way.

If Pedersen could share a message with his younger self it would be, “Listen to that advice you're getting from your parents or from your elders, because they've gone through it already, and they understand, and they know, so it can help you grow a lot quicker if you listen earlier.”

To balance his mental health and wellbeing, Pedersen maintains a work life balance, taking care not to bring work home with him. He makes family and home life number one after work and doesn’t mix the two. In some ways, that can be a bit trickier holding public office as he travels for weeks at a time, but he video calls home in the evenings to bridge the gap. With a toddler at home, he knows he’s missing out on time raising him, but his family has been supportive of his journey, easing his discomfort.

When it comes to inspiration, Pedersen looks to his family and the support of his wife and kids. While his father has passed away, his mother is still around to encourage him. Wanting to better his community and make it safer, more secure and a better place to live is also motivating.

For anyone with an interest in following in his career footsteps, he recommends starting at the local level on the political side, considering hamlet councils or district education authorities. Getting experience by starting small, then running for regional organizations and later legislative assemblies or to be members of parliament would be a recommended progression. He suggests watching proceedings on tv, staying current on the news and the needs of your community.

In closing, he says, “Get your education, travel, find out what you want to do, train for that, get a job, and then start your family, look for housing, but enjoy life when you're young and experience it.”

His work in Nunavut’s legislative assembly often keeps him away from home, but Fred Pedersen keeps the needs of his community and the love of his family close to his heart while he works to make hometown a better place. Raised by two politicians, he ended up becoming one himself and with the support of his family he’s following in the footsteps of his parents in the territorial capital. Giving back to his community and his territory in so many ways over the years, he’s doing his best to bring home the benefits his neighbours need to live their best lives.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.