Iqaluit Centre contender may haved lived in Ottawa less than a year ago

The residency eligibility of a second candidate in Nunavut's territorial election is now being challenged.

Colin Alexander of Ottawa filed a formal complaint with the RCMP on Friday, Oct. 3 alleging that Iqaluit Centre candidate Okalik Eegeesiak has not been resident in the territory for the past 12 months.

The Nunavut Elections Act states that a person must have resided in the territory for 12 continous months prior to an election to be eligible to run as a candidate – or even to vote.

"My information, confirmed by several discussions with those in Ottawa and Iqaluit who may be expected to know, is that Eegeesiak Okalik was still a resident of Ottawa… during the final months of 2007 and probably into 2008," Alexander said in letter to Staff-Sgt. Harold Trupish of the Iqaluit RCMP.

Alexander is the father of Madeleine Redfern, another candidate in Iqaluit Centre.

He said that Eegeesiak "has been living and working for several years in Ottawa, and there is no question that Ottawa had long been her place of residence, in the sense of living and working there, and not Iqaluit."

When contacted by Nunatsiaq News, Eegeesiak refused to comment on her eligibility to run.

Alexander lived in Iqaluit for five years in the 1960s when he worked for the Hudson Bay Co., then ran several businesses, a snack bar, a taxi business and the Palace movie theatre.

He told Nunatsiaq News that he decided to file the complaint himself, even though several other people had concerns, because "nobody really wanted to make waves because of the political repercussions."

Those other concerned people include both Redfern and the incumbent MLA, Hunter Tootoo, both candidates running against Eegeesiak in Iqaluit Centre.

In an interview, Redfern said Eegeesiak told her she moved back to Iqaluit "last winter," and that she thought the residency requirement was six or eight months.

She also told Redfern she considered herself a resident because she paid property taxes and had a post office box in Iqaluit.

"I'm not saying she is or isn't," Redfern said. "But it is the responsibility of the electoral officer to investigate when the issue is raised."

But Redfern said that Sandy Kusugak, Nunavut's chief electoral officer, told her a complaint should instead be filed with the RCMP.

Kusugak named Trupish as the appropriate person to receive the complaint.

And in an Oct. 6 letter to Alexander, Patrick Orr, the lawyer for Elections Nuna­vut, said that "the chief electoral officer has no authority to stop candidates, who have filed their declarations, from running."

He also said that "the proper remedy" is for the RCMP to investigate.

"A lot of people, myself included, feel uncomfortable taking such an extreme step," Redfern said. "I believe it would be better handled as an internal review than as a quasi-judicial complaint. I believe Okalik filed in good faith."

Hunter Tootoo confirmed that he "did get a couple of phone calls" from people concerned that Eegeesiak did not meet the residency requirements.

"I checked with Sandy [Kusugak]," he said. "She told me to file a complaint with the RCMP. If someone wants to do that, let them. I'm going to focus on my own campaign."

Redfern also raised questions about differences between how Elections Nunavut dealt with Jack Anawak's application and Eegeesiak's.

The chief electoral officer rejected Anawak's application before 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, when the electoral list is deemed finalized.

But Redfern said her own financial agent, Martha Padluk, had raised concerns about Eegeesiak's residence eligibility with Diane Neugebauer, returning officer for Iqaluit Centre, before the 2 p.m. deadline for filing candidacy papers on that same day.

Redfern said the 2 p.m. deadline for filing leaves a "three-hour window" for either the candidate to withdraw or the chief electoral officer to review the application and remove the person from the ballot.

"It's not trying to be mean or nasty, but you're either eligible or you're not," Redfern said.

Kusugak said in an interview that in Anawak's case she had worked for him for years and knows him personally, and had heard enough about him from his children to be convinced he did not meet the residency requirements.

"If I happen to have reason to believe something is the case, I can't just walk away," said Kusugak. "It's my job to administer the act as carefully and faithfully as I can."