Since 1999 the position has been elected by Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) using a secret ballot.
The Speaker is also the Chairperson of the Management and Services Board, which is tasked with the administration of the Legislative Assembly Precinct and the Office of the Legislative Assembly.
Decisions of the Speaker are not subject to debate or appeal.
[4] The former Speaker, Hunter Tootoo, was elected by MLAs on June 1, 2011.
Tootoo, who was most recently Nunavut's Minister for Education prior to taking up his new role, is the longest-serving Member of the Nunavut Legislative Assembly, and the only Member who was present in the first Assembly, opened in 1999.