ICC scolds Kuptana

The former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) is trying to scuttle a sealskin business in Newfoundland that she helped her ex-boyfriend start.

But ICC officals say Rosemarie Kuptana is misrepresenting herself and may bring more harm than good to the Inuit lobby group.

Aqqaluk Lynge, who assumed the ICC presidency in February following Kuptana’s resignation, recently warned her to “cease and desist from using the ICC letterhead or logo for any purposes whatsoever,” after copies of a letter she wrote to Ottawa-based entrepreneur Dan Villeneuve turned up at CBC TV’s newsroom in St. John’s, Nfld.

Kuptana used official ICC stationery for her correspondence, faxing the letter from Television Northern Canada’s office in Ottawa.

“You have been using ICC letterhead in pursuit of your personal matters, despite the fact that you have not been president of ICC since February of this year,” Lynge wrote to Kuptana in his May 1 letter. “Not only is such a practice misleading for the general public, but it can also harm ICC and its good reputation.”

Kuptana circulated her letter to Villeneuve on the same day that the Province of Newfoundland announced a hefty package of economic incentives to a seal tannery in which Villeneuve is a partner.

Kuptana alleges that Villeneuve misused public and private funds and demanded repayment of outstanding bills to her and to ICC.

“Because you have chosen to ignore my requests for a telephone meeting,” writes Kuptana, “I have no choice but to go through a public disclosure.”

Villeneuve’s company, Natsiq Inc., has struck a multi-million dollar joint venture with an Italian company to operate a seal tannery. The tannery would create 75 new jobs, processing 150,000 seal hides a year.

When Villeneuve was seeking backers for Natsiq Inc., he and Kuptana used to visit Newfoundland together. As a couple, they met with potential investors, including the president of the Newfoundland Sealers’ Association.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, ICC vice-president for Canada, said Kuptana’s resignation from the presidency of ICC was not linked to her involvement with Villeneuve or Natsiq Inc.

But Watt-Cloutier too was surprised by Kuptana’s use of the ICC letterhead.

“When one is no longer president, certainly, it would be inappropriate, at any level, to do that,” Watt-Cloutier said.

While Kuptana was still president of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada (ITC) Villeneuve sat on the ITC Sealing Committee

“Mr. Villeneuve’s personal relationship with Ms. Kuptana expedited his involvement on the Committee,” Peter Williamson, ITC’s research and special projects coordinator for Inuit Tapirisat of Canada recalled.

Villeneuve left the committee when Kuptana resigned from ITC. Representatives from both ITC and ICC say that no funds were ever used to promote Natsiq Inc.

When the Inuit lobby groups meet next week in Iqaluit it is expected they will reaffirm their shared goal of revitalizing the Inuit sealing industry.