Nunavut MP cedes control over firm earning thousands from the government

Nunavut MP Lori Idlout has let go of power over a private business that has won several government contracts over the years after she said she came under pressure to do so. 

Idlout has a financial stake in NVision Insight Group Inc., an Ottawa-based Indigenous management consulting firm, which has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in sole-sourced contracts from the federal government since 2021 — also the year Idlout was elected to Parliament.

In December 2022 Idlout informed her staff not to seek any training offered by NVision because she holds “a significant ownership interest” in the company, according to Parliament’s Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.

On July 16, Idlout put her interest into a trust.

MPs cannot knowingly be a party to any government contracts that would benefit them financially. They also cannot derive any income from the trust. 

Idlout said she created the trust voluntarily earlier this month and was not ordered to do so.

“It was something that I chose to do because of the scrutiny that I was receiving from certain other parties,” she said while answering reporters’ questions at a housing-related news conference Tuesday. It’s not clear what parties Idlout felt pressure from.

“The reason that I created the trust agreement is so that I could separate myself from what’s going on with NVision,” she said. “As an elected MP I’m never allowed to be involved in any federal contracts and that’s implementing that obligation.”  

Idlout came under scrutiny earlier this year for buying items from her own gallery and expensing it to the government. 

Idlout has since reimbursed the House of Commons and said the items she bought from her own shop, Carvings Nunavut, were made in error. 

The total value of the purchases was $1,756. Two $150 purchases in January 2025, a $76 purchase on June 25 and a $1,380.00 purchase on Aug. 27.