Interim commissioner delay Chrétien’s fault, says NTI boss

TODD PHILLIPS

It’s up to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to decide when to appoint Nunavut’s interim commissioner, NTI president Jose Kusugak said this week.

Kusugak says he regularly calls Indian Affairs and Northern Development Minister Ron Irwin to “keep pushing buttons” to find out what’s stalling the appointment.

“It is at the prime minister’s desk now, the whole issue with the election call and so on, that even the minister is sitting there going, ‘well Jose, I have no news, it’s at the prime minister’s desk,'” Kusugak said this week from Broughton Island where NTI executive members are meeting.

Kusugak says he tells Irwin and his officials that people in Nunavut expect ­ and have the right ­ to information about the appointment.

“That’s why I have made a point of calling the minister’s office before Nunatsiaq News or CBC calls to be able to officially say, ‘I don’t know because it’s at the Prime Minister’s Office, apparently,” Kusugak said.

In the meantime, he says NTI and other officials are meeting to try to work on other issues that don’t need the involvement of the interim commissioner.

“The show must go on,” Kusugak says.

Anawak expected to get job

Nunatsiaq MP Jack Anawak, one of three men once on a short-list for the job, is expected to be appointed next week.

But rumours and speculation about the date for Anawak’s appointment are as rampant in Nunavut as snowmobiles on the tundra and ravens at the garbage dump.

The Nunavut Implementation Commission had recommended that Ottawa appoint someone to the job by the fall of 1996. Ron Irwin told reporters that Ottawa would fill the post before the end of 1996.

The interim commissioner will play a lead role in helping plan and get Nunavut’s government ready for April 1, 1999, when the Northwest Territories is divided into Nunavut in the east and into an as yet unnamed territory in the western Arctic.

The interim commissioner will have a say in hand picking senior members of Nunavut’s public service, and have the power to enter into negotiations with other governments and unions.

Liberals seek successor

Although Anawak hasn’t announced he won’t run again in the next election, already Nunatsiaq Liberals are planning meetings to pick his successor.

Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco said this week he’s 99 per cent sure Anawak will get the appointment and he’s trying to lead the search for a replacement.

Picco adds that he thinks Anawak did a great job as MP.