(AFP POOL PHOTO)
The Nunavut assembly: a different kind of legislature
Although the Nunavut legislative assembly's permanent home won't be ready until this October, the Inuksuk High School gymnasium was as fine a place as any to host the birth of Nunavut's legislature.
JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News
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As he sat atop his father's lap on the morning of April 1, 1999, wearing his best pair of sealskin kamiks and a little tartan tie wrapped neatly around his neck, three-year-old Pakak Picco helped show the world why the Nunavut legislative assembly is a lawmaking body like no other.
Immaculately dressed in a blue-trimmed snow-white atigi, Pakak's dad, Health and Social Services Minister Ed Picco, had assembled inside Inuksuk High School's gymnasium with 18 other Nunavut MLAs to take oaths of office before Commissioner Helen Maksagak.
As if he were relaxing at home in his favourite armchair, Finance Minister Kelvin Ng sat two seats away, holding his son also.
As the members of Canada's newest legislature took on the burden of governing the land that is homeland for one of Canada's oldest peoples, they signaled to the world that Nunavut does things differently.
Iqaluit elder Martha Michael lit a qulliq to begin the day. Led by Iqaluit teacher David Serkoak, four young drum dancers slowly beat their drums to usher Maksagak into the assembly chambers. Later one of them closed the ceremony with the reading of an Inuktitut poem honouring of Nunavut, written by Iqaluit's Tatigiit group.
Traditional clothes
Most MLAs left their business suits at home, donning atigiit, kamiks, and sealskin vests. Public Works Minister Manitok Thompson wore a magnificent Keewatin-style amautik over a tartan kilt. The three Officers of the House, assembly clerk John Quirke, deputy clerk Rhoda Perkison, and clerk of committees Nancy Tupik, all sported handsome black and white atigiit.
On the north side of the floor, about 200 invited observers, a group made up mostly of the well-heeled and the well-connected, sat craning their necks as they witnessed the birth of the institution that will sit at the centre of Nunavut's fledgling government.
On the other side sat invited elders and even more VIPs. At various times, the VIP group included Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Governor General Romeo Leblanc, Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart, and NWT Premier Jim Antoine.
Chrétien wasn't the only national party leader in attendance. Alexa MacDonough, the national leader of the New Democratic Party, sat in the observers' area with partner David MacDonald, a former Tory cabinet minister.
Limited seating
Above them, about 125 ordinary members of the public crammed into the Inuksuk gymnasium's second-floor bleachers. Not everyone who wanted to was able to get in, and some complained bitterly about it.
The Nunavut assembly's oldest member, Akulliq MLA Ovide Alakannuark, was the first to take an oath. Member after member stepped up after him, and the morning ritual ended slightly more than an hour after it began.
Looking like everyone's favourite grandmother in her blue Mother Hubbard parka, Maksagak allowed a shy little smile to cross her lips as she spoke at the end of the ceremony.
"I wish them all well as they carry out their duties as representatives of the people of Nunavut," Maksagak said.
In the afternoon, the newly-minted MLAs gathered again for the first sitting of the first legislative assembly of Nunavut. They elected Quttiktuq MLA Levi Barnabas as speaker, and confirmed the election of Premier Paul Okalik and his seven cabinet ministers.
"As the youngest of Canada's legislatures, much is expected of us," Banabas said after Rankin Inlet North MLA Jack Anawak and Hudson Bay MLA Peter Kattuk had led him to the speaker's chair.
Then they gave first reading to Nunavut's first new law, Bill 1, the Flag of Nunavut Act.
To ensure that nobody flubbed their lines in front of the TV cameras, nearly every word spoken at the sitting was written out for MLAs in am 11-page script that they had used in rehearsals held in the days preceding the event.
Stewart commits faux pas
Onlookers clapped and smiled with approval after Nunavut's mace was carried into the chamber and laid before the speaker's chair.
But they weren't so happy to hear a major gaffe committed by Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart in a short speech to the assembly.
"It's unlikely the next sitting of the legislature will be as sober or as calm," Stewart said.
Observers clucked their tongues and shook their heads, evidently interpreting the remark as a tasteless comment on the well-known alcohol problems suffered by numerous Nunavut leaders, including some of the MLAs sitting before her.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien provoked a genuine laugh from the crowd when he joked about Okalik's stunning rise to the Nunavut government's top job.
"I would like to tell him that it took me 30 years to become Prime Minister, and it took him two weeks," Chrétien said.
Chrétien went on to warn MLAs that running a government is far more difficult than winning an election. "The thrill of victory is quickly replaced by the awesome amount of work that must be done."
The prime minister also welcomed Nunavut to the family of Canadian provinces and territories.
"Your unique northern perspective, and your consensus approach, will be valuable as governments throughout Canada work together for the common good," Chrétien said.
A moment of silence
However, it was a speech by Canada's newest first minister, Paul Okalik, that drew the warmest reaction from the audience.
Okalik asked for a minute of silence to honour all those who died before Nunavut could be created.
"It has always given me strength, however, to know that those we have lost along the way are watching us here today and smiling," Okalik said.
He went on to call upon all Nunavut residents to bear the burden of building Nunavut.
"We — all of us from Kugluktuk to Qikiqtarjuaq, from Sanikiluaq to Grise Fiord — must use this day. We must use this to say that we will continue our journey."
And Okalik said that the government of Nunavut will create the conditions that will make it possible for the people of Nunavut to improve their lives.
"We will make it possible for you to rise up and get an education. We will make it possible for your families to move forward. We will make it possible for our communities to grow in a healthy way. We will put the conditions in place for you to make Nunavut strong again."
Early that evening, MLAs returned to Inuksuk to conduct more business. They passed special warrants to give the government enough money to operate until its first budget is passed, and agreed to sit again in Iqaluit on May 12.
To prepare for that first sitting, Okalik and his cabinet will hold a retreat in Kimmirut later this month.
They're likely to consider issues such as the fate of Nunavut's health and education boards, the status of the GNWT's P3 proposals for building new hospitals, and the Nunavut government's budget.
