The Nunavut Association of Municipalities’ board of directors has requested that Nunavut’s cabinet and Inuit organizations reinstate the working group on family violence. (File photo)
Nunavut Association of Municipalities wants working group on family violence to be reinstated
“It’s not only an Iqaluit problem, it’s a Nunavut problem”
Nunavut Association of Municipalities has requested that Nunavut’s cabinet and Inuit organizations reinstate Ilagiitsiarniq, the working group on family violence.
The request came during the NAM’s first-quarter board of directors meeting at the end of February.
“It’s not only an Iqaluit problem, it’s a Nunavut problem. It’s not only a Nunavut problem, it’s a Canada-wide problem,” said NAM President Kenny Bell, who is also Iqaluit’s mayor.
“We want to make sure that at least some steps are taken forward.”
The decision to bring the issue before the NAM board of directors stemmed from a conversation Bell had with Iqaluit’s deputy mayor, Janet Brewster, earlier in the month after she gave an impassioned speech during a city council meeting that centred on public safety.
“The cost of doing nothing is ongoing and we see it too often in the deaths and violent beatings that continue to impact our women, children and men,” said Brewster on Feb. 11.
“I call upon the territorial government to reinstate the Ilagiitsiarniq working group on family violence, as the work is far from over.”
The plan for Nunavut’s family violence strategy was first announced in December 2010. Two years later a revised draft had yet to be released, and when it finally was, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association expressed its disappointment, calling the draft “a shadow of the document that QIA and other organizations spent a considerable amount of time working on.”
Based on their actions last month, NAM’s board of directors felt the same way as Brewster.
“There was basically no conversation,” said Bell.
“We moved and approved it right away, everyone sees it.”
The meeting also touched on other points, including a request to the Nunavut Department of Community and Government Services to define the role and responsibilities of the regional mayors’ associations, and to permanently appoint NAM’s acting executive director, Tony Bird, to the position full-time, effective on April 1.
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