Will the Nunavut plan change after next week?

Nunavut leaders will get their first look at Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak’s implementation plan for Nunavut’s government next week, and try to find out from Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart if they can afford it or not.

By NUNATSIAQ NEWS

ANNETTE BOURGEOIS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT – Although political leaders say they agree on the Nunavut Implementation Commission’s decentralized model for a Nunavut government, Nunavumiut may have to brace themselves for a less expensive kind of government.

The NIC’s Footprints model calls for locating Nunavut territorial government offices in eleven Nunavut communities in an effort to spread jobs throughout the unemployment-plagued territory.

It’s up to Nunavut’s Interim Commissioner, Jack Anawak, to implement that model. That’s a taxing job in itself, given the ever-shrinking time frame before division of the Northwest Territories, but it may be down-right impossible without funding.

“All the federal government has said up to now is they agree in principle,” says Goo Arlooktoo, the minister responsible for Nunavut transition planning.

Will Ottawa commit the money?

Whether or not the federal government is ready to commit the needed millions is a question expected to be answered by Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart at next week’s Nunavut leadership summit in Iqaluit.

“What I’ll be looking for from Ms. Stewart is a certainty of funding,” Arlooktoo said.

Arlooktoo and three Nunavut caucus MLAs will meet with Stewart and Nunavut Tunngavik President Jose Kusugak next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Decentralization and financing discussions will focus around a work plan that Anawak will present. That document will detail his schedule for setting up the Nunavut government.

Changes to the plan?

“It’s the first time the parties will see Mr Anawak’s plan,” Arlooktoo said. “It’s long overdue. As with any plan, there’ll likely be changes,” he added.

Nunavut’s MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell is expecting some frank discussion on that plan, which she says should pacify Anawak’s critics.

“I think we’ll see some concrete things come out that will hopefully put to rest all the rumors that have been flying around for a while,” she said. “I think it will be good to get some positive, concrete action plan that people can look at. Hopefully that will calm a few skeptics out there.”

Arlooktoo said that along with that plan, he’ll looking for assurances from the interim commissioner that “action is taking place” within his office.

But how leaders react to that document and what they have to say to each other won’t be for the public to hear.

Behind close doors

The politicians who will gather to make fundamental decisions about the future of Nunavut will do so behind closed doors, shielded from the critical eye of the public.

That’s because they’ve decided to hold in-camera, non-public meetings, making this the first Nunavut leaders’ meeting to bar the public.

“I think it’s a chance for us to really hash out some different information we get from different sources,” Nancy Karetak-Lindell said.

“The fact that it won’t be public will give us the chance to get more work done,” she added. “There are times you need to have some frank discussion and learn to work together and have a united front.”

Arlooktoo says he’s hopeful that out of those discussions, Stewart will commit the necessary funding for the NIC’s decentralized model of government, but an air of uncertainty in his voice belies any confidence he may have that the Footprints 2 model is affordable.

A transition action plan tabled in the legislative assembly last October by GNWT Finance Minister John Todd detailed an estimated $135 million in extra funding needed in one-time costs associated with division.

Karetak-Lindell said she hasn’t spoken to Stewart about the upcoming meeting and doesn’t know what she’s bringing to the table in terms of financing.

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