'We have to cooperate with each other'

When the Nunavut Association of Municipalities convened its annual general meeting in Rankin Inlet this week, one Nunavut community was missing.

Baker Lake's hamlet council passed a motion April 10 to pull the hamlet out of the Nunavut Association of Municipalities. As a result, no one from Baker Lake was to be at the meeting, said Mayor David Aksawnee.

"I'm travelling to Rankin while they're having their NAM meeting, so I'll see what happens once I show up on the streets in Rankin," he said in an interview this past Monday.

Aksawnee said he hadn't decided if he'd sit in on the meeting as an observer.

Baker Lake councillors were apparently upset by a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Lynda Gunn, NAM's chief executive officer, against Paul Okalik, the premier, and the Government of Nunavut.

Gunn is seeking $600,000 in damages in connection with an incident at a trade show last fall in Labrador, where Okalik called Gunn an offensive name.

The resolution withdraws Baker Lake from NAM "until such time that the hamlet deems the administration [of NAM] is working for the people of Nunavut." It also calls for Baker Lake's dues to the association to go back into hamlet coffers.

It isn't clear how many of Baker Lake's councillors voted for or against the motion.

In a brief interview, Craig Simailak, the hamlet's deputy mayor, said "the resolution speaks for itself."

Aksawnee was out of town when the vote passed and said he's not sure what the motivation of council was. He said he's been trying to get a copy of the meeting minutes but the hamlet's senior administrative officer is on vacation.

But he echoed the resolution's wording, saying Baker Lake isn't getting its money's worth from NAM. It's thought that Okalik's outburst at Gunn had its roots in NAM's push for more input on mineral development in Nunavut, something that Okalik has resisted.

"We have to cooperate with each other, municipalities, NAM and Nunavut government," Aksawnee said. "We haven't seen any results in regards to being in membership [of] NAM."