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Editorial

June 27, 2003 - Private investment needed in Arctic fishery
June 20, 2003 - Should Arvaluk stay or go?
June 13, 2003 - ITK's credibility problem
June 6, 2003 - The Raven takes flight

Private investment needed in Arctic fishery

The catastrophic collapse of the northern cod was an unmitigated disaster for thousands of fishermen and fish-plant workers throughout the Atlantic provinces.

However, the disappearance of cod and other fish species gave Arctic shrimp a new lease on life — literally.

Since there are fewer cod around to eat them, northern shrimp have enjoyed a population explosion.

As we all know, this population explosion has given fishing interests a lot of valuable new quota to fight over. Between 1996 and 1998, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans boosted the total allowable catch for shrimp from 37,000 tonnes to 87,000 tonnes. The total shrimp quota is still going up. And since shrimp, depending on market demand, are worth at least $4,000 to $4,500 a tonne, all that new shrimp is worth a lot of money to those who catch, process and sell it to seafood-hungry southern customers.

At the same time, the settlement of the Nunavut land claims agreement and the creation of Nunavut has given Inuit powerful new tools that they're now using to demand a fair share of the total allowable catch for shrimp, and other species, in Davis Strait and other offshore areas.

The "adjacency" principle, which recognizes that fishermen from a province or territory should get most of the quota for species harvested in waters right next to them, is acknowledged in Article 15 of the Nunavut land claims agreement.

Predictably, the Nunavut government is likely to use that principle in an impending lawsuit against the federal government, prompted by a recent announcement by Robert Thibault, the federal minister of fisheries and oceans, that gave only 51 per cent of the latest Davis Strait quota increase to Nunavut interests.

But is that the only action that Nunavut, and other eastern Arctic players in northern Quebec and Labrador can take to ensure that Inuit benefit fairly from shrimp and other stocks adjacent to their lands?

No, it's not. In 1995, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans did a study on the shrimp fishery. The study found that Inuit development corporations were making less money from their quota than they could be making. Those companies are the Qikiqtaaluk Corp., Makivik Corp., and the Labrador Inuit Association. The three companies hold several shrimp fishing licences, which they operate through a variety of licence sharing arrangements between each other and some other partners.

The reason? It's because none chose to invest in a trawler.

Instead, the development corporations have chosen to rent their licences out to southern companies like Clearwater, Farocan, and Ocean Prawn, which actually fish the areas licenced to Inuit. In exchange, the big maritime seafood processors pay flat royalty fees to the development corporations and agree to hire and train Inuit workers for their boats.

Up to 25 per cent of the crews serving on southern-owned trawlers fishing on Inuit licences have been made up of Inuit workers, who can earn more than $50,000 or more for just a few months of intensive work at sea.

But Inuit development corporations have made no real long-term investments in the shrimp fishery, and have made less money out of it than they could have. According to the study, they were "prepared to accept lower revenues in exchange for positions on vessels," even though a licence and a half could provide enough revenue to finance a new $25-million, 65-foot trawler.

This weakens Nunavut's case for a greater share of shrimp quota. It's the southern interests that first made the risky investments in trawlers and processing equipment, and that actually developed the Arctic fishery. That gives them a strong argument they can use to justify getting more quota for themselves in the future.

So if the collectively owned development corporations aren't able or willing to make risky investments in Inuit-owned vessels, then the Nunavut government should encourage private entrepreneurs to do the job instead.

One firm, Arctic Harvesters Inc. of Nova Scotia, is seeking an Inuit partner, or partners, to take a 51 per cent controlling interest in the company. Since Arctic Harvesters operates a 285-foot factory freezer trawler, this could turn out to be a way of creating an Inuit-owned fishing vessel one day.

Another firm has also stepped forward, Jencor Fisheries of Iqaluit, a private, 100-per-cent Inuit-owned fishing company. Jencor says its mission is to show that it's viable for Nunavummiut to own and operate their own fishing vessel. Their dream is to one day see a fishing vessel that is captained and crewed entirely by Inuit.

This is the kind of enterprise that the Nunavut government should support aggressively. Private, individual investment by entrepreneurs who risk their own money may be the quickest way of buying a bigger Inuit stake in shrimp and other fisheries. JB

Julne 20, 2003

Should Arvaluk stay or go?

In most other parts of the world, James Arvaluk, the 54-year-old MLA for Nanulik, would simply be stating the obvious when he offered this sheepish comment to reporters: "I'm not worried about the sentence, but my political career is over."

This may be the most honest thing he's said in four years. But he's wrong. His political career, we regret to say, is not over.

Because he was convicted in a summary conviction process, Arvaluk will keep his seat. ("Summary conviction" is a fancy legal term to describe a simplified way of trying less serious charges, without a preliminary inquiry or jury.)

Had the Crown prosecuted Arvaluk by way of the more complex indictment route, Arvaluk, would have lost his seat the moment the judge said "guilty." That's what the Legislative Assembly and Executive Council Act now says.

So Nunavut MLAs are stuck with the same problem they faced in 2000, when Levi Barnabas, their former speaker, was convicted of sexual assault, also by way of summary conviction.

After Barnabas, in August of 2000, vowed to stay on as a member, MLAs who happened to be in Iqaluit for committee and caucus meetings threatened to recall the assembly and expel him. Rather than face an embarrassing public expulsion, Barnabas resigned.

But a few months later, he was back, contesting the by-election held to find a new member to fill the seat he had vacated in disgrace. Barnabas finished a close third, behind David Roberts of Resolute Bay and Rebekah Williams, who became the new MLA for Quttiktuq.

Given the number of candidates who ran in that by-election, and the large number of people who voted for Barnabas in spite of his conviction on a crime of violence against a woman, vote-splitting was probably the factor that led to Williams' victory and Barnabas' defeat. With a different mix of candidates, Barnabas may well have won.

Nunavut's political class has a long and sordid history of criminal convictions for a variety of stupid, childish and vicious crimes involving booze, drugs, and violence against women and children. And many Nunavut voters - and political leaders - don't care much about it.

That's why Barnabas believed, accurately, that he stood a good chance of winning the Dec. 4 by-election in Quttiktuq - and that's why Arvaluk's political career is far from over.

His own career is proof of that. He may be a wash-out as an MLA, but all by himself, he's served as a one-man make-work project for northern lawyers.

In 1995, while a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, Arvaluk was convicted of two sexual assaults, related to incidents that occurred after a hot-tub party at his residence in Yellowknife. He had already served a brief stint as the NWT's minister of education before that time, but was forced to resign from cabinet because of yet another sexual assault allegation dating back to 1980. After a trial in Rankin Inlet he was acquitted of the 1980 charge.

But on the newer charges he was sentenced to five years in jail, two and a half years on each count.

After an appeal, one of those convictions was overturned, but the other was upheld, and Arvaluk served out the two-and-half-year prison term attached to it.

He was out of jail in time to contest Nunavut's first territorial election. Despite his record as a convicted rapist, Nanulik voters picked Arvaluk to represent them.

With no regard for Arvaluk's well-known personal history, Nunavut MLAs rewarded Arvaluk by electing him to cabinet. And then, in what may be the worst political decision he's ever made, Premier Paul Okalik appointed him as Nunavut's first minister of education. As we all know, that posting didn't last long.

Because of the appalling errors that Justice Howard Irving, an aging fly-in judge from Alberta, made in his first trial, Arvaluk was not convicted on the Coral Harbour assault when he should have been - in June of 2001.

So should MLAs remove Arvaluk now?

Maybe. But what's the point? They've decided to hide behind the "case-still-before-the-courts" excuse for their failure to take action or even issue a denunciation, in general, of public officials who commit crimes of violence against women and children. So we'll have to wait at least several weeks to find out if MLAs plan to remove their thumbs from their anal cavities and actually do something.

By then, the campaign period for Nunavut's next territorial election will be only six or seven months away, and there will be no justification for holding a by-election in Nanulik.

Besides, it's not as if Arvaluk did anything bad, like vote against a pension plan or something. His victims were only women, after all. In Nunavut, that's no crime at all. JB

June 13, 2003

ITK's credibility problem

We're convinced the board of directors that oversees the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami were motivated by the best of intentions when they decided last week to postpone their annual general meeting and election until the fall, saying they want more time to broaden the list of candidates available to replace Jose Kusugak as president.

Besides, ITK is a private organization, or more accurately, a coalition of private organizations, and it has the right to run its affairs as it wishes, as long as it does so in a lawful manner.

Unfortunately for ITK, most Inuit beneficiaries don't seem to see it that way.

Since June 3, when ITK announced the postponement of the election, CBC Iqaluit's talk-back telephone line has been flooded with calls from people who want to record their displeasure with the decision.

It's not going over well with Inuit. Callers have used words like "dictatorial," "unfair," and "crazy" to describe the decision. Canada's national Inuit organization now has a big credibility problem, not only with the people they represent, but with everyone else.

ITK officials shouldn't be surprised. It's not unusual for an organization or a government to postpone an election or extend a nomination period when there are no candidates.

But in this case, there were two — Pitseolak Pfeiffer and Robbie Watt. Two candidates are all you need to hold an election. They're both articulate and well-educated, and both have held executive positions with Inuit organizations in the past. One of them, Robbie Watt, has earned a university degree, something that only a few Inuit politicians can say about themselves.

Of course, educated people don't necessarily make good politicians, and many educated people are totally unsuited for political leadership. Politics requires many other qualities: toughness, maturity, cunning, good judgment, honesty, an understanding of human nature, and the ability to communicate with people of all ages and backgrounds. A resilient ego doesn't hurt either.

Nevertheless, ITK's board, the very same group that also "elects" the organization's president, hasn't provided convincing reasons to support the notion that Pitseolak Pfeiffer and Robbie Watt aren't a wide enough choice.

Yes, when he was speaking on behalf of the board last week, Jose Kusugak repeatedly said that ITK isn't suggesting that the two men aren't good enough.

But ITK's actions contradict those words. If ITK had faith in at least one of the two men, it would have gone ahead with the election. This obvious contradiction creates the appearance that ITK is being dishonest in the extreme, and is manipulating the process so that some other person will end up with the job.

This creates a disastrous credibility problem for the organization. If ITK's president is just an appointed flunkie, with no mandate from Inuit, why should he or she be taken seriously by the federal government and other non-Inuit agencies? If the real power is held by the regional presidents, then why shouldn't federal officials deal directly with them rather than with their appointed intermediary?

For ITK's board, there appear to be only two options for getting out of this mess.

One would be a return to the kind of universal, pan-Arctic elections held until 1995, which Robbie Watt has been calling for. This option is potentially expensive, and for those who like certainty and stability, would produce unpredictable outcomes.

The other option is to be honest and to admit the obvious. Why pretend to be holding an "election?"

If ITK's board wants to determine who will become president, why don't they simply fill the position through a standard job competition? They can do so easily by advertising for candidates, interviewing them, and then hiring the person they want to a term-limited contract.

Why not try honesty? They've tried everything else and no one is convinced. JB

June 6, 2003

The Raven takes flight

Move over, CBC. There's a new sound in Iqaluit, the loud, sassy sound of private radio, brought to Iqaluit residents courtesy of CKIQ, located at 99.9 on the FM band.

To the CRTC, who had the good sense to grant them a licence, we extend our gratitude. To the Evaz Group of Companies, the new station's proprietor, we offer our congratulations.

At Nunatsiaq News we know how tough it is for the private media to make a go of it in Nunavut — so we wish the new station and its employees the best of luck and every success in the future. We hope CKIQ enjoys a long and profitable life.

So far, the fledgling Raven's prospects look good. Numerous Iqaluit businesses are already lining up to buy advertising spots. Numerous listeners are participating in a promotional contest that accompanied the station's launch on May 26, and many more are flooding the station with request calls.

That's not surprising. There aren't many other stations that will let you ask for "Stairway to Heaven" — and play it for you with a straight face.

Their wide range of musical genres, programmed on a computer of course, is perfect for Iqaluit's young, but diverse population. As their agreeable afternoon deejay Glen Craig says, "We're playing the music you really want to hear."

He's right. Where else can you hear Johnny Paycheck, Steppenwolf, the Bay City Rollers, R.E.M., and Abba all within the same hour? That's how the private market is supposed to work. So far, Iqaluit's market likes what it hears.

CKIQ is talking about adding phone-in shows, special programs, and so on. With the good will they've built up among Iqalungmiut only a week after their launch, they're sure to find a receptive audience.

As for CBC Nunavut's dowdy old radio service in Iqaluit, CBC managers ought to already know that their listenership in Nunavut's capital was shrinking rapidly even before CKIQ's arrived on the scene. Southern FM radio signals packaged with cable and satellite television have been luring radio listeners away from CBC in droves.

Now that private radio is a reality in Iqaluit, CBC radio faces the prospect of being stuck with an aging, rapidly-shrinking base of listeners in Iqaluit. And after CKIQ figures out ways of piping its signal to other communities, the same thing will happen there too. All of a sudden, CBC radio looks old and grey and full of sleep.

The eastern Arctic's public broadcaster will continue to play a crucial role, however, because there is one thing that they do that private radio cannot do yet — news and current affairs.

But their current radio news and current affairs offerings vary wildly in quality, ranging from excellent to dreadful. In Nunavik, CBC radio often appears to be on the verge of abandoning its mandate, missing story after story. At the same time, CBC appears to be moving its most talented people into its excellent northern television news programs produced out of Yellowknife. Now would be good time for CBC to closely examine its radio operation in Iqaluit. It's too important a service to be allowed to drift into irrelevance.

CKIQ's launch last month was the business event of the year in Iqaluit. The Raven rules. JB

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