Peter Irniq, born in 1947, is an Inuit cultural teacher and has lived most of his life in the Kivalliq Region of Nunavut, including Repulse Bay, Coral Harbor, Baker Lake, Chesterfield Inlet, Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit.
Peter was the Executive Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner of the N.W.T. from 1974 to 1975. He was elected to the 1975 Northwest Territories general election and represented the riding of the Keewatin Region for four years.
He was the first Inuk to be made Assistant Regional Director for the Department of the Executive in the former Keewatin Region (Kivalliq), 1979 until 1981. He has also served as the second Commissioner of Nunavut from April 2004-April 2005.