December 8, 2000
AARON SPITZER
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT — James Arvaluk says he’s not guilty of assaulting a woman in Iqaluit last summer.
Arvaluk’s lawyer, Markus Webber, entered a not-guilty plea on Monday at the Nunavut court of justice in Iqaluit. Arvaluk’s trial in the incident was set for March 15.
Arvaluk, the MLA for Nanulik riding and formerly Nunavut’s minister of education, did not appear at the hearing.
Iqaluit police arrested Arvaluk Nov. 1 and charged him with assaulting a woman in Iqaluit on Aug. 22.
RCMP Sgt. Mike O’Malley said an arrest wasn’t made until November because the complainant did not report the incident until well after it occurred.
Police said the complainant was an adult female, but would give no further details about her identity. They suggested that alcohol was involved in the incident.
The Iqaluit event occurred only four days before Arvaluk’s Aug. 26 arrest in his home community of Coral Harbour on charges of assault causing bodily harm to a female complainant.
The trial on that charge is set for March 12.
The Coral Harbour arrest prompted Arvaluk to resign as Nunavut’s minister of education. He continues to sit as the MLA representing about 1,500 residents in the Kivalliq communities of Coral Harbour and Chesterfield Inlet.
Though Nunavut’s Executive Council and Legislative Assembly Act requires MLAs convicted of certain crimes to be expelled from the assembly, no action can be taken against them until they are convicted.
If found guilty of the Coral Harbour assault, Arvaluk faces a maximum prison term of 10 years. In the Iqaluit incident, the longest possible sentence is six months. Courts seldom impose maximum sentences.
Until his March trials, Arvaluk is free on the conditions that he not consume or possess alcohol or have any contact with the complainants.