{"id":76702,"date":"2016-06-01T06:32:17","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T10:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=76702"},"modified":"2016-06-01T06:32:17","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T10:32:17","slug":"fisheries-minister-hunter-tootoo-leaving-caucus-addiction-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/06\/01\/fisheries-minister-hunter-tootoo-leaving-caucus-addiction-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo leaving caucus over \u2018addiction issues\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tootoo,<\/a>
Tootoo, the first northerner to take on the role of fisheries minister, issued a brief statement saying he was stepping down in order not to distract from the important work of his colleagues.
(Photo: Minister Hunter Tootoo’s official Twitter account<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2013 Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo, citing \u201caddiction issues,\u201d has resigned from the federal cabinet and is leaving the Liberal caucus.<\/p>\n

Dominic LeBlanc, the government\u2019s House leader, will assume Tootoo\u2019s cabinet responsibilities.<\/p>\n

A statement from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s office says Tootoo is \u201ctaking time to seek treatment for addiction issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tootoo, the first northerner to take on the role of fisheries minister, issued a brief statement saying he was stepping down in order not to distract from the important work of his colleagues.<\/p>\n

Tootoo said he has \u201cdecided to seek treatment for addiction issues\u201d and asked for \u201cprivacy at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nature of his addiction was not specified.<\/p>\n

The announcement about Tootoo\u2019s troubles drew words of support from former Ontario premier Bob Rae, who tweeted: \u201cWish him well in his battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler also took to Twitter to offer support for Tootoo on behalf of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in northern Ontario: \u201csending prayers and support to Hunter Tootoo as he seeks healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tootoo was born in Rankin Inlet in 1963 and immediately had to fight for his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was medevaced (airlifted) out,\u201d Tootoo told The Canadian Press in an interview last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in an incubator for the first three months of my life, so I am told.\u201d<\/p>\n

After overcoming this struggle, Tootoo went on to live in various parts of Canada, including Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan before making his way back to the North in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

The 52-year-old was first elected as the MLA for Iqaluit Centre in 1999, where he served for 14 years and was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly until 2013. He also held a number of cabinet positions in the territorial government.<\/p>\n

In November, a month after Tootoo defeated former Conservative cabinet minister Leona Aglukkaq to claim the federal riding of Nunavut, he said in an interview he hoped to transfer his political experience to a national scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it is going to be very beneficial to me as we move forward,\u201d he told The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n

In the November interview, Tootoo said he was \u201cvery proud to be the first aboriginal person, first northern person to be appointed to this position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tootoo is related to NHL player Jordin Tootoo, a forward for the New Jersey Devils, but he has been quick to quash the idea he may share some of the hockey skills honed by his cousin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watch hockey,\u201d he said in the interview. \u201cThe only sport I do is curling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tootoo isn\u2019t the first Liberal MP in this government to seek help for addiction problems.<\/p>\n

In January, rookie Newfoundland MP Seamus O\u2019Regan announced he was back to work after getting help for a drinking problem.<\/p>\n

At the time, Trudeau tweeted his support for O\u2019Regan, who did not leave the Liberal caucus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2013 Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo, citing \u201caddiction issues,\u201d has resigned from the federal cabinet and is leaving the Liberal …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":76703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[10995,1769,10994],"class_list":["post-76702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-hunter-tootoo","tag-liberal","tag-tootoo","mauthors-peter-cameron","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}