Current ads
Jobs
Tenders
Notices
General

Click below

Conservative candidate seeks strong voice within his party

“Maybe I could be more of an influence to educate those who have not known what the real needs are”

SARA MINOGUE

Conservative candidate David Aglukark Sr. wants to abolish the gun registry — or make it easier for Nunavummiut to comply. (PHOTO BY JOHN THOMPSON)

---

The Conservative Party’s critic for Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Jim Prentice, recently told a Yellowknife audience that his party would honour the spending commitments made at the First Ministers’ meeting in Kelowna last month, but Assemby of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine told CBC North that there are no guarantees that this is true.

Conservative leader Stephen Harper has yet to announce a policy on aboriginal issues and land claims.

Aglukark Sr., a negotiator with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., said 15 years of experience negotiating with the federal government has given him the feeling that “maybe I could be more of an influence to educate those who have not known what the real needs are.”

Nunavut’s Conservative candidate is also quick to point out that it was Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government that signed the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement into effect.

“Who knows?” Aglukark asks. “If the Conservative Party had been given more time to govern after the Nunavut land claim, maybe it would have been implemented by now.”

Aglukark is an ordained minister from Arviat. He was a Glad Tidings pastor 10 years ago, but said in an interview this past Wednesday that both he and his wife — who have seven children — have given that up.

Implementation of the land claim is a top issue for Aglukark, who has been involved with negotiations with NTI’s predecessor, the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut, and the Kivalliq Inuit Association.

Aglukark also wants to tackle the national gun registry, which continues to frustrate Inuit hunters who wait eight to 10 month to get their firearms certificates — if they can find the forms they need to fill out in the first place.

“This issue keeps coming up from the communities — from elders down to the young,” Aglukark said.

Aglukark would like to see the law revisited to exempt Inuit hunters from having to register their firearms. Failing that, he wants the federal Justice department to do more to help Inuit comply with the rules.

The Conservative candidate also supports several of his party’s national policies, including giving families a $1,200 monthly day care allowance, and building a deep water port in Iqaluit to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.

Aglukark announced he would run for the Conservatives in May last year, when it appeared the governing Liberal minority could collapse, prompting a spring election.

At the time, Aglukark told this newspaper that he was not happy with Liberal MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell’s decision to vote in favor of a bill to allow same-sex marriages.

“This is not sitting well with the people of Nunavut,” he said then.

“This past Tuesday, at an all candidates’ forum held in Iqaluit, it appeared that Aglukark had softened that message, perhaps because the bill has already been made law.

TOP

Advertising
Specs, rates,
& maps
Multi-paper
buying services
About the market
E-mail ad dept

More Information