Ann Martha Keenainak () is an

Inuk Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labr ...

Canadian Anglican bishop. Since 2025, she has been one of three suffragan bishops of the

Diocese of the Arctic The Diocese of the Arctic is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights of the Anglican Church of Canada. It is by far the largest of the List of dioceses of the Anglican Church of Canada, thirty dioceses in Canada, comprisin ...

in the

Anglican Church of Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2016, the Anglican Church of ...

(ACC).

Early life and career

Keenainak is a native of

Pangnirtung Pangnirtung (or Pang, also Pangniqtuuq, in syllabics: ᐸᖕᓂᖅᑑᖅ ) is an Inuit hamlet in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, located on Baffin Island. The community is located about south of the Arctic Circle ...

Baffin Island Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada, the second-largest island in the Americas (behind Greenland), and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is (slightly smal ...

, where she was born to Simeonie and Daisy Keenainak. From 1996 to 2015, Keenainak worked a variety of jobs across

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

, including as a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

Rankin Inlet Rankin Inlet, which fronts to Hudson Bay, is an Inuit hamlet on the Kudlulik Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest hamlet and second-largest settlement in Nunavut after the territorial capital, Iqaluit. Rankin Inlet is the regional c ...

, a heavy equipment operator for Tower Arctic in Pangnirtung and a cargo agent for

First Air Bradley Air Services Limited, operated as First Air, was an airline headquartered in Kanata, Ontario, Kanata, a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

. In 2002, she completed the RCMP cadet training in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina ( ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 Canadian census, ...

Ordained ministry

Keenainak had been involved in church long before ordination but did not consider it until the end of her time in the Diocese of the Arctic's Arthur Turner Training School (ATTS). She was ordained to the diaconate in 2018 by Suffragan Bishop Darren McCartney, then took her first pastorate at St. James Anglican Church in

Salluit, Quebec Salluit (, "the thin ones") is the second northernmost Inuit community in Quebec, Canada, located on Sugluk Inlet close to the Hudson Strait and was formerly known as Sugluk. Its population was 1,483 in the Canada 2016 Census and the populatio ...

. Her ordination to the priesthood followed in January 2020. She later served as priest in charge in

Kuujjuaq Kuujjuaq (; or ), formerly known as (ᓲᐃᕙᐅᖃᔾ) and by #Names, other names, is a former Hudson's Bay Company outpost at the mouth of the Koksoak River on Ungava Bay that has become the largest northern village (Quebec), northern vil ...

from 2019 to 2020, and from 2021 to 2023 in Pangnirtung, where she used radio to offer Inuktitut sermons and services during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She moved to St. Jude's Cathedral in Iqaluit to be an assisting priest from 2023 until 2025, where she also taught ATTS courses in Inuktitut. She is a board member of Alongside Hope, an Anglican charity formerly known as the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund. In 2023, Keenainak represented the diocese as a delegate to the ACC's General Synod, where she opposed the creation of

gender transition Gender transition is the process of affirming and expressing one's internal sense of gender, rather than the sex assigned to them at birth. It is a recommended course of treatment for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria, providing impro ...

and affirmation liturgies. According to ''

Anglican Journal The ''Anglican Journal'' is the national newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada. The ''Journal'' publishes news, features and opinion related to Anglicanism and religion in Canada and abroad. It also contains an extensive arts and culture se ...

'', she said during debat that "the process felt 'rushed' in comparison to time it took to address many

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

concerns. She cited the difficulty in explaining the resolution to youth back home and translating it. "I'm opposed to this as it’s uncomfortable to be rushed into something . . . I'm just speechless," Keenainak said. " t'snot for us to lean onto our own understanding of being." On May 9, 2025, Keenainak was elected a suffragan bishop at the diocesan synod in

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. Due to the high cost of travel in the Arctic, bishops from the Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights were present to consent to the election, and Archbishop

Greg Kerr-Wilson Gregory Keith Kerr-Wilson is a Canadian Anglican bishop. Since 2012, he has been bishop of Calgary, and since 2015, he has been archbishop of Calgary and metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Northern Lights in the Anglican Churc ...

consecrated Keenainak as a bishop alongside new suffragan bishop

Jared Osborn Jared Osborn (born April 23, 1986) is a U.S.-born Canadian Anglican bishop. First ordained as a deacon in 2015 alongside his wife, Rebecca, Osborn's entire ministry has been spent as a missionary in Nunavut within the Anglican Church of Canada's D ...

and diocesan bishop

Alexander Pryor Alexander Roy Pryor is a Canadian Anglican bishop. Since 2025, he has been the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of The Arctic in the Anglican Church of Canada. Early life and education Pryor was born in Sibley's Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, t ...

on May 11.

Personal life

Keenainak is a single mother of three grown children. She is a musician who has performed at the Pangnirtung Music Festival.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keenainak, Ann Martha Living people 21st-century Anglican Church of Canada bishops 21st-century Inuit women Anglican bishops of The Arctic Women Anglican bishops Inuit from Nunavut Canadian Inuit women People from Pangnirtung Year of birth missing (living people)