Nunavut’s year in review: January — March 1999

The year the dream came true: 1999

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

IQALUIT — The year the dream of Nunavut came true has drawn to a close.

It began with a whirlwind: Nunavut’s first election, the selection of Premier Paul Okalik and his cabinet, the formal creation of Nunavut on April 1, and those early days when Nunavut’s fledgling government took its first halting steps.

Now that the euphoria of April 1 has faded away, members of Nunavut’s government and legislative assembly are labouring under the strain of running a new territory with not enough money, not enough staff, and huge shortfalls in the territorial government’s health and education budgets.

But the people of Nunavut have never been more proud than they were on April 1, the day the world saw the birth of Canada’s newest territory.

January

— Nominations for Nunavut’s first territorial election close with 71 candidates vying for 19 seats in the new legislature. The slate of contestants include many incumbent Nunavut members of the NWT legislature, and a variety of muncipal and regional leaders. Jack Anawak, the former member of Parliament for Nunavut, quits his job as Interim Commissioner and announces that he will contest the Rankin Inlet North seat in Nunavut’s new legislature. Along with former NWT deputy premier Goo Arlooktoo, Anawak is considered to be a leading candidate for the Nunavut premier’s job.

— Joe Kunuk is appointed acting Interim Commissioner, a position that involves overseeing the wind-down of the OIC and signing various intergovernmental agreements in advance of April 1. At that time, Kunuk was Nunavut’s designated deputy minister of the executive and the designated secretary to cabinet. He is now deputy minister of human resources.

— A new technology hits Nunavut when cell phones begin to ring in Iqaluit. The handy little portable phones become de rigeur for legislative assembly workers and other government employees.

— Whale Cove resident Andy Kowtak is denied a shot at a seat in the Nunavut legislature after he fails to file his nomination papers by deadline. In a letter to chief electoral officer David Hamilton, Kowtak complained that his nomination papers didn’t arrive in Whale Cove until the day nominations closed. Manitok Thompson of Rankin Inlet went on to win the seat on Feb. 15, defeating two other Rankin Inlet residents.

February

— A Winnipeg home for Inuit medical patients finds itself on the verge of closing its doors due to a financial crisis. The Ublivik Inuit Centre, which serves Inuit travelling to Winnipeg for medical care, gets a last-minute reprieve when the Keewatin Regional Health and Social Services Board pays $108,000 in outstanding debts to the centre. But in April, the home closes after 33 years of service to the people of the Keewatin, as the Keewatin board awards the patient home contract to another company.

— Nunavut’s first territorial election is a resounding success, as 88 per cent of eligible voters in Nunavut head to the polls on Feb. 15 to cast ballots. Former NWT deputy premier Goo Arlooktoo loses badly in a bid for the Baffin South seat, which is won by newcomer Olayuk Akesuk. Iqaluit West candidate Paul Okalik wins a seat in the legislature just days after being called to the bar as Nunavut’s first Inuk lawyer. Okalik soon puts his legal career on hold, as Nunavut MLAs chose him over Jack Anawak to serve as Nunavut’s first premier.

— Elections Nunavut investigates a complaint that David Matoo, the official agent for James Arvaluk, a candidate for election in the constituency of Nunalik, broke election rules by going on the radio to publicly defend his candidate from rumours that he was drunk on polling day. Noah Kaludjak, who lost the seat to Arvaluk by 31 votes, lodged the complaint. The Nunavut Elections Act prohibits campaign publicity on polling day and on the day proceeding it.

— A new aboriginal television network gets the go-ahead from the CRTC. The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network is the world’s first national television network dedicated to aboriginal programs. APTN eventually hits the airwaves in September, costing every Canadian cable subscriber an extra 15 cents a month.

— Canadian North, now run by Air Norterra in a contract with Canadian airlines, announces that it will offer regular passenger travel between Ottawa and Iqaluit starting April 6. Canadian North’s entry ends rival carrier First Air’s monopoly on routes between .

March

— Uranium mining giant Cameco Corp. cancels its mineral exploration program in Nunavut for 1999, citing a lack of commitment by Inuit leaders to the mining industry. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. had placed a ban on uranium exploration on certain parcels of Inuit-owned land, pending the development of an NTI policy on the matter. But Cameco wants access to that portion of Inuit-owned land administered directly by NTI, lands where Inuit enjoy subsurface rights. Cameco may relaunch exploration in 2000.

— Newly-chosen Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik doles out cabinet posts to seven MLAs after meetings in Iqaluit. Okalik’s rival for premier, Jack Anawak, is named minister of justice and minister of community government, housing and transportation. The housing function is later transferred to the Department of Public Works, the department that’s headed by Rankin Inlet South-Whale Cove MLA Manitok Thompson.

— Nunavut and the NWT reach an interim deal on the post-division status of the Northwest Territories Power Corp. The agreement postpones the deadline for a final decision on how the crown corporation’s assets should be divided until April 1, 2000. Later in the year, Nunavut decides to go it alone, and begins the process of creating its own power company.

— An internal RCMP investigation is launched after Iqaluit resident Mathew Petooloosie claims that he was kicked in the abdomen after having been taken to the drunk tank by the RCMP. Petooloosie was treated for a ruptured bladder shortly after his stay at the police station. A crown prosecutor in Winnipeg later reviews the findings of the police investigation and decides that there is insufficient evidence to lay a charge against Cst. Colin Allooloo, who had arrested Petooloosie on the night in question. Petooloosie’s lawyer, Euan Mackay, later files a complaint with the RCMP Public Complaints Commission.

— A injured raven adopted and tended by Iqaluit resident Craig Clark is confiscated and killed by Nunavut wildlife inspectors. Clark is outraged and sets up a web site to vent his anger over the incident.

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