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Iqaluit-wide election forum draws notables, undecideds

Candidates field questions on religion in schools, standardized tests

PATRICIA D'SOUZA

A long row of election hopefuls exposed themselves to a room full of voters Tuesday night in Iqaluit. (PHOTO BY PATRICIA D'SOUZA)

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The 11 contenders vying for one of Iqaluit's three seats in the legislative assembly attacked and defended the Government of Nunavut's record on education issues, this week, during an all-candidates forum hosted by the Iqaluit District Education Authority.

About 150 Iqaluit residents crowded into the community's parish hall Tuesday evening to participate in the question and answer session, which was structured much like a job interview, with questions suggested by education staff and IDEA members selected at random and posed to individual candidates.

Candidates were held to a strict two-minute time limit for each answer, mainly to keep the event from running into the wee hours.

Public meetings on education issues often produce large crowds in Iqaluit. Tuesday's meeting drew a comparable number of prominent Inuit and non-Inuit, including teachers, principals and deputy ministers.

Some brought pens and notebooks and diligently recorded the candidates' answers. Many were undecided, and genuinely interested in gathering information to allow them to make an informed choice on election day.

"Me and my partner, we don't know who we're going to vote for yet," Simeonie Natsiq, originally of Repulse Bay, told the panel.

And candidates reached out to those undecided voters, with bold proclamations.

"Our government hasn't done their job," said Doug Workman, the president of the Nunavut Employees Union, who is contesting the seat held by Premier Paul Okalik in Iqaluit West.

"No education act - that's a disgrace. There should have been more consultation. Instead it was rammed through."

During a tense round of questioning that brought groans from the crowd, Norman Ishalutak, who is running in Iqaluit East against incumbent Ed Picco, defended his stand on introducing religion into Iqaluit's public schools.

"How will you ensure that Muslims and people of other faiths are included?" asked court librarian Gary Pon.

"We were taught the Christian faith. Other religions - I guess we will have to learn more about them," Ishalutak said.

Later in the evening, he returned to the subject. "Education in Nunavut should include Christian teaching. The first man and first woman were Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," he said, to shouts of "shame, shame" from the back of the room.

Some candidates were visibly uncomfortable at the microphone, and appeared unprepared for a discussion of education issues.

Kevin MacCormack, a candidate in Iqaluit Centre, facing off against incumbent Hunter Tootoo, was asked to describe what decisions he would make that would result in immediate improvements to Iqaluit schools, bearing in mind the government's budget will be very tight next year.

"Well, budget..." he said, followed by a prolonged silence.

"I'm not sure what I would do. We can't cut back on teachers, we have a lot of overcrowding as it is. We have to have an increased budget for our schools and for more teachers. As minister, I would lobby for more money for more teachers," he said.

MacCormack, whose background is in economic development, later recovered himself, speaking strongly about the way the Government of Nunavut has managed its educational assets, asking why insurance won't cover the replacement of Joamie School.

"I'd make sure those assets are covered," he said.

In response to a question about school safety, and what action he would take to improve conditions in light of bomb scares and deliberately set fires, Pauloosie Paniloo, another Iqaluit Centre candidate, said the solution was to hold more meetings.

"I will have a meeting with you if I am elected. I will work hard if I am elected," he said.

Paniloo also had the misfortune of drawing the dreaded standardized testing question, in which coming out either in favour or against testing would immediately alienate him from half the crowd.

Instead, Paniloo confused the entire crowd by failing to address the issue at all in his lengthy response.

"I've been thinking," he said, "the issues from the communities, you can't really see them as an MLA."

Yet, the forum put little-heard-from candidates such as John Amagoalik, who is running in Iqaluit East, and Natsiq Alainga-Kango, who is running in Iqaluit Centre, on equal footing with candidates whose powerful election machines have erected sandwich-board signs all over town.

Both Amagoalik and Alainga-Kango were peppered with questions from the crowd concerning the dream of an Inuktitut school in Iqaluit, support for cultural education, and elders in the classroom.

"Who would provide funding for an Inuit school," asked Iqaluit resident Aaju Peter. It's a tricky question because there has always been a drive to create an Inuktitut school, but funding has been the main impediment.

"If there is to be an Inuit school, the funding must be provided by the Nunavut government and the federal government. We have to be treated equally. We can't just be stomped upon as Inuit people," Amagoalik said.

"The funding would have to be provided by our government and the federal government. But also, I think, our Inuit organizations would have to contribute," Alainga-Kango said.

The forum almost didn't take place. Last week, after plans were already well under way, IDEA members took a vote, as required by their bylaws. But the motion to go ahead with the event narrowly passed, 3-2 with one abstention.

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