CGS blocks Nunavut mayor from seeking re-election

Jerry Natanine, Clyde River’s well-known mayor, was looking forward to running for re-election this Dec. 14. But because of a mix-up over the implementation of an indemnities bylaw, he’s been declared ineligible to run as a candidate. (FILE PHOTO)

An “honest mistake” has thwarted Clyde River Mayor Jerry Natanine’s plan to seek another term of office in Nunavut’s hamlet elections this Dec. 14, Natanine told Nunatsiaq News Nov. 24.

That’s because the Department of Community and Government Services declared him ineligible to run as a candidate this year, on the grounds that he owes more than $500 to the Hamlet of Clyde River.

James Qillaq, a well-known artist who has served as mayor of Clyde River in the past, is now the only listed mayoral candidate, and will likely gain the position by acclamation.

But Natanine said it’s all the result of a mistake that he and his hamlet council stumbled into inadvertently earlier this year.

And by the time they learned of the error and tried to correct it, it was too late, Natanine said.

“We were not being fraudulent or anything like that. We just made a mistake.”

The problem began around last April, when the Clyde River hamlet council amended its indemnities bylaw — which sets out how much the mayor and hamlet councillors are paid — and presented it to the CGS department for ministerial approval.

CGS did not approve the bylaw until September — and when the approval arrived, the hamlet applied the increased payments retroactive to the start of the fiscal year.

“It was going to be retroactive to April 1,” Natanine said.

But CGS told the hamlet it isn’t allowed to implement bylaws retroactively, which means hamlet council members and the mayor cannot be paid retroactively either.

Natanine was stuck owing about $9,000 to the hamlet — which made him ineligible as a candidate.

The hamlet council then voted to give Natanine an advance on this pay to let him pay that debt and run for mayor again.

But CGS disallowed that move as well.

“Hamlets cannot pass a bylaw retroactively. Subsequently, a raise in a councillor’s indemnity cannot be paid retroactively. Hamlets also cannot issue loans to councillors. As such, advances in indemnities cannot be paid,” Darren Flynn, the acting deputy minister of CGS said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

That means that when nominations for the election closed Nov. 9, Natanine owed more than $500 to the municipality.

And, under the Local Authorities Elections Act, that bars him from seeking election to a hamlet council position.

“Mr. Natanine at the close of nominations on November 9 owed in excess of $500 for a period exceeding 90 days. As a result the Returning Officer for the Hamlet of Clyde River declared Mr. Natanine ineligible to stand as a candidate for election in accordance with section 20 (1) (d),” Flynn said.

Natanine said these CGS rulings took the hamlet by surprise and that no one at CGS alerted them to the relevant sections of the Hamlets Act and the Local Authorities Elections Act when they were going through the process of getting their indemnities bylaw passed and approved.

And he said the problem underscores the need to update and modernize the Hamlets Act.

The current version of that piece of legislation dates to 1988, and was inherited from the Northwest Territories.

And under the Hamlets Act, hamlet governments don’t enjoy much autonomy.

One provision, in paragraph 59, gives the CGS minister the power to quash any hamlet bylaw for any reason.

“The Minister, on the recommendation of the Executive Council, may disallow any by-law for any reason within one year after the by-law receives third reading,” paragraph 59.3 reads.

Nunavut voters in 24 hamlets go to the polls Dec. 14 to elect mayors in some communities and councillors in most communities. Polls open at 10. a.m. local time and close at 7 p.m.