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Kivallivik MLA Kevin O'Brien wants Commissioner Helen Maksagak to order a public inquiry into the Keewatin Regional Health Board
JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT -- Describing the health care system in the Keewatin as "out of control," Kivallivik MLA Kevin O'Brien this week said he wants the commissioner of the Northwest Territories to order a public inquiry into the Keewatin Regional Health Board.
"This wouldn't be tolerated in any other civilized society," O'Brien said Wednesday at a press conference in Yellowknife, referring to a long list of complaints made by numerous Keewatin residents about recent decisions made by the KRHB.
The "last straw," O'Brien said, was the KRHB's decision to break off negotiations on a new contract with the University of Manitoba's northern medical unit, who for years have provided doctors and medical specialists to the Keewatin region.
O'Brien said nobody in the Keewatin-- including many in the health care field -- know how Keewatin residents will get medical care after Sept. 30.
He also lit into Health Minister Kelvin Ng, whose performance O'Brien described as "derelict."
O'Brien also said a half-million dollar study by the Med-Emerg consulting group -- commissioned by Ng's department -- was a waste of money.
"The only real news to come out of that report is the fact that the minister of health and social services will see a new multi-million hospital in Cambridge Bay," O'Brien said.
Cambridge Bay is located in Kelvin Ng's Kitikmeot constituency.
O'Brien said he wants the commissioner's public inquiry to "investigate the public concerns, allegations and contract practices of the Keewatin Regional Health Board, it's chairperson, and its CEO."
He said he also wants "a review of the 'derelict manner' in which the minister of health and social services has handled his responsibilities regarding these very critical and essential health care responsibilities."
Lastly, O'Brien said he wants the KRHB's agreement with the NMU to be reinstated.
The inquiry, O'Brien said, should be conducted under the NWT's Public Inquiries Act, which allows the commissioner to hold such inquiries.
When asked if he thought the territorial cabinet might intervene and try to prevent the commissioner's office from proceeding with an inquiry, O'Brien said he thinks NWT Commissioner Helen Maksagak "will do the right thing."
O'Brien also said the health care system in the Keewatin is deteriorating to Third World conditions. He said, for example, that the 35-year-old nursing station in Arviat won't be upgraded because money for the project will now be spent in Ng's riding.
"That's not acceptable," O'Brien said.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsYoung Iqaluit welfare recipients will soon have to work for their cheques.
JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT -- If you're on social assistance right now, get ready to change your life.
That's because the GNWT is now changing the way it hands out welfare to NWT residents.
From now on, each NWT community will get to set its own rules for handing out social assistance.
In Iqaluit, that means all social assistance recipients between 18 and 25 will have to show they're trying to get off social assistance -- or they won't get any money at all.
That applies whether you're single or raising children.
"You'll have to work for it."
"You can't be on it forever," says Leona Aglukkaq from the GNWT's Education, Culture and Employment Department. "You'll have to work for it."
To fancy up their new way of handing out welfare in the NWT, they've come up with a new name to describe it.
Instead of "social assistance," welfare is now called "income support."
And the program that will change the lives of about 200 young adults in Iqaluit is called "Productive Choices."
How it works
First, these clients will meet with a Social Services counselor. Together, they'll draw up a contract that says what "productive activities" the client agrees to do.
These could include looking for a job, volunteer work, hunting or upgrading.
The goal of the new program to get young, able-bodied people off the welfare rolls.
"If they don't adhere to the contract, they will be exited," says Roger Sevigny of the Town of Iqaluit's social services department. "Its intent is to assist habitual users to get off."
This tough new approach to welfare is the result of the GNWT's "income support reform" initiative, announced in 1992 by Richard Nerysoo, then the NWT's minister of education.
Under that initiative, responsibility for social assistance was taken away from the territorial Department of Social Services and given to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment.
As well, Nerysoo set up a travelling panel of NWT residents called the minister's forum on income support to provide advice.
Welfare linked to job training
This forum recommended that the new program be linked to jobs and training in the wage and traditional economies.
"The new income support program will provide basic benefits for people in transition who need financial help for a short time," Charles Dent, the NWT's employment minister, told the NWT legislative assembly in November, 1996.
"Extended benefits will be available to people who need help over a longer period, if they are involved in activities that contribute to their personal or community growth."
The Keewatin and Kitikmeot regions have already put these new policies into effect.
In Cambridge Bay, for example, income support recipients agree to do community work, take training courses or look for jobs.
Clients who refuse to sign a contract, says Jessie Tologanak, Cambridge Bay's income support officer, are kicked off the rolls for a two-month period.
In other communities, the "Productive Choices" program has also included things like parenting courses, upgrading classes or hunting for elders.
"It involves partnerships," says Aglukkaq.
Communities set own rules
Each community can decide how best to do this. There are no fixed rules -- but critics of the program say it's not universal in nature.
But that's what community empowerment is all about, Dent said.
"If you allow a community to take control of a program, you have to respect a community's decisions about what makes sense in the program," he said.
Offloading the deficit?
Some people still fear the new program is less about empowering communities and clients, and more about saving the government money.
Roger Sevigny, director of Iqaluit's social services, says Iqaluit's population and client base have grown, while social services' staff numbers have gone down.
Iqaluit social workers now see an average of 18 clients a day. And that means each client normally gets only 20 minutes of a social worker's time.
That's why clients may feel short-changed, and that no one cares about them.
Not enough money?
The heart of this problem, says Sevigny, is money. Federal transfers for social services are based on population numbers, not percentage of clients.
"The reality is there is less money to go around," he says. "The frustration I feel is that when there are budget cuts, it's always the social programs that suffer."
Sevigny is not convinced that "Productive Choices" will work for everyone.
"The choice will be the clients'," he says. "I'm sure there will be success stories and some failures. I'd like to say everything is smelling roses, but we'll have some individuals who will suffer."
While bureaucrats play with new ways of doling out their shrinking piles of welfare money, real people are suffering real pain.
JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT -- Sarah walks along a dusty Iqaluit street, feeling numb and desperate.
"Maybe a taxi will hit me," she thinks. "I feel as if they would prefer I didn't exist."
Sarah, who feels ashamed of being on welfare, doesn't want us to use her real name -- so we'll just call her "Sarah."
She's on her way back from Iqaluit's social services office after fighting to keep her income support program benefits. The social worker, after waving some official-looking papers in her face, has given her the brush off, Sarah thinks.
"I'm devastated. They have the power. I have none," Sarah thinks.
Sarah goes home -- a two-bedroom apartment with a nice view over the bay.
But the windows are dirty. Inside piles of unwashed laundry are stuffed into corners. Pictures hung on the wall are memories of a time when life was easier and she had the energy to keep her household tidy.
But again, she's run out of money to buy detergent. She no longer gets personal and household allowances.
"People used to send washclothes and soap to kids overseas," she remembers. "They should be sending packages to us because the government isn't helping us anymore."
Her kids come in. Her son doesn't understand why he can't have any candy today. She's almost out of food.
Sometimes the kids suffer. There's just some Jell-O in the fridge. Tomorrow maybe she'll take them out to the causeway and try some fishing.
She's knows she's supposed to be out looking for work, but the kids need her, and she doesn't want to leave them alone.
"What am I supposed to do? Live on prayers?"
Editor's note: Some details have been changed to protect the identity of our informant.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsHigh Arctic residents feel transporting animals to the Calgary Zoo is too drastic a measure, at this point.
LEEVEDE ATAGOYUK
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT -- Hunters and trappers organizations in Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord oppose the idea of re-locating a number of Peary caribou to the Calgary Zoo in and effort to save the endangered species.
David Kadluk, chairman of the hunters and trappers organization in Grise Fiord said hunters don't like the idea of moving the animals to southern Alberta because it could interfere with their ability to re-adapt to the cold.
"We think that if there are calves that are born there and re-introduced to the Arctic, they would not have a chance of surviving," Kadluk said.
Attempts by the Department of Renewable Resources Wildlife, and Economic Development (RWED) to re-locate the caribou in 1996 failed due to unseasonable weather and bad timing, but has not been ruled out as an option next year.
An aerial survey of the herd conducted last month showed fewer than 3,200 animals in both the Western and Eastern side of the High Arctic. In the 1960s, the herd's numbers were estimated to be around 25,000.
Kadluk said elders in the High Arctic communties feel that the herd is probably dispersed, with animals moving on to better feeding grounds. Early and heavier snowfalls in over the last two years have made feeding difficult for the caribou, he said.
"We think a better idea would be to re-locate the caribou to their surroundings on nearby islands on Devon or Ellesmere Islands instead of the South," Kadluk said.
In the meantime, harvesting has been sharply curtailed. "We have been getting shipments of caribou meat from Arctic Bay, Pond Inlet, Cambridge Bay and Hall Beach," Kadluk said.
Dan Pike, wildlife director for the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board (NWMB), which participated in the survey, said the number of Peary caribou from Bathurst Inlet to Melville and Prince Patrick Islands, is estimated to be a mere 1,100.
"They also saw a large number of caribou carcasses," Pike said.
The eastern part of the caribou's range has not been surveyed so nobody knows how many there are on Ellesmere and Devon Islands.
Hunters in Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay have voluntarily restricted their hunting and Pike said the NWMB has no plans to introduce a quota system.
The wildlife management board turned down a request by the GNWT to approve the re-location to Calgary.
The dilemna facing the Peary caribou herd will be discussed at NWMB's next board meeting in November.
"It may be necessary to re-locate if there is still a decline of the caribou," said Pike. "It is something the board has not rejected. It just something we're retaining it as an option."
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsLocked in a spat with federal fisheries officials over commerical turbot quotas, NWMB accuses David Anderson of breaching Ottawa's commitment to the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement
ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT -- Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister David Anderson is violating a Federal Court ruling by ignoring the advice of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, board chairman Ben Kovic charged this week.
Kovic said Anderson continues to ignore the board's suggestions for quotas on this year's turbot fishery in Davis Strait, despite a Federal Court ruling that ordered Fisheries and Oceans to engage in "conscientious" consultation with the board.
Letters have been flying back and forth between the two offices since the ruling was handed down July 14 in Vancouver, but neither side appears ready to budge.
"The minister has ignored almost all the advice given by the NWMB," Kovic said.
The NWMB wants Anderson to recognize the board's right to advise on issues of wildlife in relation to Nunavut. The minister, however, has refused to make further changes to the 1997 turbot fishery.
Greater share for Nunavut
The only concession Anderson has made was to reduce the total allowable catch for turbot in Davis Strait from 6,600 to 5,500 tonnes, a figure the NWMB recommended. But even that, Kovic said, wasn't much of a concession because that figure, added to what was caught before the fishery closure following the court ruling, brings this year's quota closer to 6,000 tonnes.
Anderson and the NWMB disagree as to whether fishers who live close to the harvesting grounds should be granted a larger portion of the turbot quota than fishers who don't live in the territory. The NWMB believes Nunavut fishers should have a larger percentage of a turbot quota in areas adjacent to Nunavut.
"It is both frustrating and contrary to the decision of Mr Justice Campbell that the board has received no reasons from you as to why those recommendations were rejected,"
Kovic wrote in a letter to the minister, dated Aug. 11.
The NWMB recommended that Nunavut fishers be given 40 per cent, or 2,200 tonnes, of the 1997 quota. This year, Nunavut fishers have been allocated 1,500 tonnes, the same as last year.
"If you decide upon that amount, it will mean that, since 1994, Nunavut's share of the (sub-area 0B) quota will have grown by 100 tonnes," Kovic writes. "At this rate of increase, the fishers of Nunavut might be able to expect to harvest 50 per cent of a 5,500-tonne turbot resource adjacent to Nunavut by approximately the year 2034. They can look forward to harvesting 80 per cent slightly before the turn of the 22nd century."
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) launched a court action against Anderson's predecessor, Fred Mifflin, after he failed to take the conservation advice of the NWMB, in violation of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.Force of law on board's side?
Justice Douglas Campbell stated in his ruling there must be "meaningful inclusion of the NWMB in the governmental decision-making process before any decisions are made."
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. discussed the issue again during its meeting in Arviat this week. One option open to NTI is to launch another court action.
"This won't do," said NTI vice-president James Eetoolook. "NTI has already won a solid court ruling in this matter. We originally took the department to court because the former minister's actions violated our land claims agreement with the federal government.
Our agreement has the force of law and is not subject to political whim."
In his letter of reply to Kovic, dated Aug. 15, the minister stated that he is "committed to managing the fishery in a manner consistent with the Nunavut Final Agreement."
He added that "discussions will begin in the near future on receommendations related to the fishery in 1998 and beyond."
Back to Nunatsiaq News
JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT -- Arctic Internet surfers are now once again able to read Nunavik Net's home pages on the World Wide Web.
Taqramiut Nipingat Inc. (TNI) has a deal with a Montreal-based wholesale server called Totalnet to provide Internet access.
In late July, Bell Canada cut off all of TNI's telecommunications services, including Nunavik Net's Internet connection to the South. TNI owed the company about $180,000.
"There has been a partial payment put down and that's why Bell put back our service," says Kuujjuaq's TNI Board member Sammy Duncan. "We're using it to get service back to the communities."
Totalnet posts Nunavik Net's home pages and lets clients use a Nunavik Net e-mail address.
TNI is offering the service to its former Nunavik Net clients free of charge.
But they'll have to pay long-distance charges to TNI's Dorval office to log on.
"Our problems with our service provider seem to be settled," said TNI's director general Normand Pelletier. "We're back in business."
But many Internet users in Nunavik are still out of luck, because community telecentres in Puvirnituq, Salluit and Kuujjuaq remain closed.
The centres will stay closed while TNI tries to put together a new business plan.
Meanwhile, Internet users in Nunavik have been looking at other ways to link up with the Internet.
The Kativik School Board (KSB), a former Nunavik Net subscriber, may put up individual satellite dishes on its schools.
Each dish costs around $5000, but the Quebec government has a special subsidy of around $35.00 per student to bring in new technology to schools.
These dishes are similar to the pizza-sized dishes used in the South to capture satellite television transmissions.
"Because we're outside the footprint of the Telesat satellite, at the edge of the beam, we need a larger disc," says KSB's Gordon Cockbain.
Cockbain says Kangiqsualujjuaq's Satuumavik School will be the first to try out a dish.
If this pilot project is a success, dishes could find their way on to every school roof in Nunavik.
Back to Nunatsiaq NewsConsumers concerned about the quality and cost of food in Nunavut's largest community welcome the arrival of ACL.
DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT -- Blackened bananas. Dessicated eggplant.
Strawberries smothered under a grey-blue mould. Potatoes so old they've started to reproduce in the bag.
While bemused tourists and newcomers alike cruise the grocers' aisles in Iqaluit and groan at the selection of battered, withered offerings, people who live here somehow resign themselves, it seems, to flabby carrots and five-dollar melons.
No matter what time of year it is, or who you are, a visit to the produce section is a vivid reminder that fresh food in Nunavut's capital is almost never in season.
That's why the recent purchase of Eastern Arctic TV by Arctic Co-operatives Limited is welcome news among those who believe Iqaluit's retail consumers stand to benefit most from a strong dose of local competition.
While a co-operatively owned cable system may have its own merits, it's the presence of the co-op itself that merits attention.
A base of operations
"There's no grassroots movement to take over cable," Mary-Ellen Thomas, a co-op supporter told Nunatsiaq News. "There is a grassroots movement about food. It just gives us some base of operations to begin with."
Thomas is one of 15 concerned residents who recently banded together to assess the local market for food. The focus group has begun looking at four food issues, especially: quality, quantity, accessibility and affordability.
Their plan is to work with Craig Dunphy, the manager of the new Iqaluit cable TV service, to help develop a new food co-operative to be controlled by a local board of directors.
Dunphy met with Thomas and others interested in the co-operative movement last week to explain how the co-op would proceed.
Plans for expansion outside of cable TV are still a long way off, though. Just setting up a local member-controlled co-op to run the cable service is expected to take as long as a year.
"In order for this to be done properly we can't rush into it," said Dunphy, who spent the last eight years as the co-op manager in Baker Lake.
Arctic Co-operatives has been trying to re-establish a foothold in Nunavut's largest settlement since the demise of the old Ikaluit Eskimo Co-operative five years ago. When Iqaluit businessman Dave Fox decided he wanted out of the cable business, Dunphy said it made sense to act.
Dunphy said the formation of a co-operative to run Eastern Arctic TV would establish a membership base from which new initiatives may be launched, including, eventually, a new retail store to compete with the Northern Store and Arctic Ventures.
"It will happen," Dunphy said. "There's no ifs, ands or buts about it. We are here to stay."
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LEEVEDE ATAGOYUK
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT -- Bishop Paul Idlout and his family made a voyage this month that was just like the trips that old-time missionaries used to take in the old days.
Last week, Idlout arrived in Iqaluit to open his new office after an eight-day boat trip from Cape Dorset.
"Last Tuesday on the nineteenth, we arrived safely in Iqaluit. It took us about eight days to get to this destination," Idlout said.
Originally, he had planned to use an airline to move his family and belongings from Cape Dorset to Iqaluit, but he didn't want to leave his 24-foot canoe behind. So, he decided to travel by boat.
"When we started our voyage, we didn't know any of the land between Cape Dorset and Iqaluit. But looking back at it, it was not difficult at all," said Idlout.
With the help of a marine map showing where all the little islands are, the trip was easier. They had a smooth trip after they encountered the mainland of Baffin Island.
Idlout said there was no mishaps during the entire trip. "The only sad thing was leaving my friends and other family and the people of Cape Dorset."
There was a chance that there might have been strong winds, or polar bears, but there was nothing dangerous that they encountered. He said they never stayed in one place for a long time.
"We were told to be cautious around the southeast side of the Meta Incognita Peninsula, because of its strong currents when the low and high tides converge in that area. We all hugged each other when we passed that area," Idlout said
Idlout said the waters were calm all the way to Iqaluit. "We're happy that we are in Iqaluit, and the people of Iqaluit welcomed us with open arms."
Like Idlout, many priests used to travel by dog team in the winter and spring. and by boat in the summer, and used to take days to get to their destinations.
Now, with the coming of airlines, traveling has been made easier.
"I thought about my counterparts who use to travel that way. For example, we knew they had hard times in the recent past, and we believed in ourselves that we can do the same thing, and we did." said Idlout.
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DWANE WILKIN
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT -- Three hikers are alive today because a curious polar bear used his snout and not his clout to probe their tents.
The Toronto tourists were roused from their sleep late Saturday night in Auyuittuq National Park near Pangnirtung when the animal took a bite out of Peter and Joan Joel's tent.
"If he had taken a swipe at the tent with his paw, he would have killed Joan and Peter," said Olaf Kraulis, who was sleeping a few feet away.
The trio were camped about 70 kilometres from Pangnirtung, near the base of the Turner Glacier, when the encounter occurred.
Startled, Peter Joel yelled, waking Kraulis, an experienced hiker on his seventh voyage through Auyuittuq Park.
Used bear spray
"I said, 'Peter, it's probably a weasel or a lemming, but have you got your bear spray?' " Kraulis, an information technology consultant, recounted.
Joel's bear spray, a solution containing the same active ingredients as cayenne pepper, was in his backpack outside. "I remember getting out of the tent -- I was scared," said Joel, who works as a computer operations manager.
Under the silvery light of a half-moon, Joel carefully armed the bear spray by slipping off the safety catch. He didn't notice anything unusual at first, then glanced at Kraulis's tent where his worst suspicion was confirmed.
At that point, a huge shadow appeared above Kraulis' own tent.
"I screamed very loudly because I knew there shouldn't be anything outside my tent that huge that would obliterate the moonlight," Kraulis said. "After I screamed the tent started to move.
"I heard growling and huffing, and then I heard Peter's scream: 'Bear, go away!' and I realized that my tent was being pulled."
With bear spray in one hand and a walking stick in the other, Joel approached the animal, continuing to scream at the top of his lungs.
After dragging it in his jaws six feet, Joel said the bear finally released Kraulis's tent and began to walk slowly, in Joel's direction.
"We just kind of looked at each other," Joel said.
Bear ran away
When the bear had gotten within eight feet of him, Joel let go with the spray. The animal lifted its head, inhaled, then bolted down the hill toward a nearby lake.
"We had a lot of luck going for us," Joel said afterward.
Polar bears are considered to be marine mammals -- and they've never been seen that far inland.
"There's no record of polar bears being in that area in the past," Yves Bossé, Auyuittuq's park warden service manager, said. "But polar bears can travel 30 to 50 miles a day. They just wander around."
Bossé said the bear was probably a juvenile.
Scared trio couldn't sleep
The face-to face encounter was followed by a long sleepless vigil. Fearing the bear might return, the trio spent the rest of the night surveying the camp's perimeter, huddling back-to-back and revolving in a tight circle.
"That way anything that one of us missed in an area of terrain, another of us would spot. We decided to continue that way until it got light enough for us to pack and hike out," Kraulis said.
To futher ward off the animal, the hikers continued to ingite flares every quarter of an hour or so.
The hikers activated a personal locator beacon belonging to Kraulis in the moments following the encounter. The beacon is a special transmitter that sends a signal via satellite to different emergency response stations around the world.
While they waited for daylight, the distress signal was relayed to the search-and-command centre in Trenton, Ont. Park authorities in Pangnirtung and local RCMP were then notified.
"The hardest thing for me was the knowledge that when we activated the beacon, our families were called. And my family knows that I would not activate that beacon unless it was in fact a life-threatening emergency," said Kraulis.
"For them to know that I was in a life-threateneing emergency and not know, possibly for days exactly what happened, was just heart-wrenching. It just tore me apart."
A search-and-rescue helicopter picked the hikers up around 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
Kraulis singled out his hiking companion for special mention.
"Peter Joel saved our lives with his courage, and his very effective use of what he had in hand -- the spray and his voice. He did exactly the right things at exactly the right time, and he did them very effectively."
Back to TopRe: Concerned Beneficiary's letter to Nunatsiaq News, Aug. 15.
The cost of travelling with First Air from Iqaluit to Montreal or Ottawa without advance purchase is $1,740 per person, plus applicable taxes.
Children travelling on this fare are eligible for a 10 per cent discount. The cost to travel with seven days notice (other restrictions will apply) is $957.
How an airline determines its prices is based on several factors such as volume, frequency, market travel patterns, and operational costs of the environment.
First Air's airfares are in line with the unique costs of operating an airline into remote areas of the Arctic. These operational costs are incomparable to southern airline operation costs, however, First Air is constantly seeking efficiencies in order to minimize increases and pass on the savings to our customers.
The purchase of Ptarmigan Airways and NWT Air is good for the people of Nunavut, as it ensures that safe reliable year-round transportation remains available to their remote communities.
Yes, there is still such a thing as a student standby fare. It applies to youth 12-to-24 years of age. Between Iqaluit and Ottawa or Montreal, the fare is currently $610 per person, plus applicable taxes.
Should you have further questions, please feel free to direct them to me personally by phone, at (613) 839-3340 or by fax, (613) 839-5690.
Andrew G. Campbell
V. P. Sales & Commercial Operations
First Air
Carp, Ontario
Who can do a public inquiry?
Should the territorial government -- or anyone else for that matter -- hold a public inquiry into the Keewatin Regional Health Board?
Since at least three Keewatin hamlets, the Keewatin Divisional Board of Education, the Kivalliq Inuit Association, and the Union of Northern Workers have all raised alarming questions about the KRHB's conduct in recent months, the answer to that question must be "yes."
But that, however, must be an extremely qualified "yes."
Of course, the people of the Keewatin, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories deserve to know the truth.
Unfortunately, the current government of the Northwest Territories, the legislative assembly that oversees it, and many of the senior public servants who carry out -- and often set -- the GNWT's political decisions may now be incapable of providing us with that truth.
Indeed, nearly all our territorial institutions -- the ones we rely upon to make sure that public servants aren't abusing our trust -- may now be so compromised that none can be trusted with the job.
There are two reasons why this may be so:
* The first reason: The GNWT itself is now the subject of a criminal investigation led by RCMP commercial crime squad members based in Edmonton.
Concerned, perhaps, that publicity may result in evidence being hidden, altered, or destroyed, police have refused to say who they're talking to, or what specific crimes are alleged to have been committed.
Other sources, however, have told us that this investigation is wide and sweeping.
If that's true, some -- and possibly many -- elected and appointed GNWT public officials may now be in possession of evidence that could possibly incriminate themselves and others.
People in such a position are not likely to co-operate in good faith with a public inquiry that's expected to deal with matters like conflict of interest and questionable relationships between government and business.
No matter how honestly it may be run, any public inquiry whose terms of reference would be controlled by the GNWT isn't likely to win the confidence of the public.
Yes, there's no evidence whatsoever that the Keewatin health board, or any of the businesses with which it has been linked, have anything to do with the RCMP investigation.
The public, however, will not be satisfied by any attempt by the GNWT to investigate itself.
* Second, the kind of inquiry requested by the UNW would raise questions about numerous GNWT policies and practices that many elected and appointed officials will not want to answer honestly.
Remember, the UNW is asking not only for an inquiry into a specific contract between Kiguti Dental Services and the Keewatin Regional Health Board.
They've also asked for an inquiry into the Evaz group of companies and the network of private development corporations they helped to set and up and with whom the Evaz groups still maintains a close relationship.
Since Elizabeth Palfrey, the chair of the KRHB, is an Evaz group employee and also -- according to records available to the public -- owns shares in a capital corporation that owns shares in a company that owns shares in another company that owns 49 per cent of Kiguti Dental Services, it's not hard to see why the UNW is asking for this.
However, the Evaz group and its private development corporation allies are not just the creation of a few ambitious business people in the Keewatin.
They're also the creation of the GNWT, and a collection of GNWT programs and policies that have existed for more than a decade.
Using GNWT initiatives like negotiated contracts, the business incentive policy, and the department of economic development's venture capital program, the Evaz group and it's development corporations have been suckling money from the teats of the GNWT for more than a decade.
It's clear also that for years, GNWT officials have used these companies as instruments for carrying out their pet economic development policies.
For example, under a secondment arrangement, the GNWT even paid the salary of Piruqsaijiit's general manager -- a former regional superintendent of economic development -- for five years. (Piruqsaijiit is an Evaz-related company that provides management advice to the Keewatin's private development corporations.)
GNWT officials cannot be trusted to oversee an inquiry that may end up showing that their own policies don't works.
And if, as the UNW says, there's a "rat's nest" in the Keewatin, it's a rat's nest that nearly all of us have helped to create. That's because most of us asked for those interventionist economic policies in the first place.
The only type of inquiry worth doing therefore, is a judicial inquiry, led by a supreme or superior court level judge from another province or territory. Such an inquiry must have the power to subpoena witnesses and compel them to testify.
And such an inquiry must get terms of reference wide enough to cover the whole truth -- no matter who may not want to hear it.JB
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These materials are Copyright (C) 1997 Nortext Publishing Corporation (Iqaluit), and may be freely distributed throughout the Internet, or other electronic computer networks or bulletin boards, as long as this notice remains intact and the articles are reproduced in their entirety. These materials may not be reprinted for commercial publication in print or other media without the permission of the publisher.
Last updated August 29, 1997
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