Iqaluit council sends mayor to pricey Nunavut conference

Iqaluit city council, chaired by Mayor Mary Wilman, centre, votes on a motion at a regular meeting, Jan. 13, at the Abe Okpik Community Hall in Apex. Council voted to send Wilman to the Nunavut at 15 conference next month. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)

Iqaluit’s cash-strapped finances sparked debate at an Iqaluit City Council meeting Jan. 13, about the value of sending municipal representatives to a $1,600-a-head conference in Ottawa next month.

The city’s economic development committee proposed that council send an elected member to the Nunavut at 15 conference, organized by the Iqaluit-based Northern Institute for Policy and Law, Feb. 4 and 5.

The two-day event will host “elected leaders, advisors and lawyers from governments and Inuit organizations” and researchers who will speak about the progress Nunavut has made in its first 15 years as a territory, the Northern Institute says on its website.

Councillor Kenny Bell balked at the registration fee for the event — listed as $1,399 plus tax, amounting to $1,580.87 per person. Travel to Ottawa and accommodation in the city would add to the expense.

“My interest waned when I saw it was $1,600 to register,” Bell told council at a regular meeting, Jan. 13.

“I have absolutely no interest in attending. But if we want to go, it should be the mayor,” he said, pointing to Mary Wilman, who is also chair of the city’s economic development committee.

“But I don’t think any of us should go,” he said, pointing to the city’s projected budget deficit of more than $7 million for 2015.

“I think we should actually put a freeze on all our travel, until we have more funds in the bank.”

“I take exception,” Coun. Terry Dobbin countered. “We’re tight on funds, but we’re a capital city. We’ve got to wave the flag — that’s the issue.”

Dobbin said he often goes to trade shows as part of his regular day job and personal business.

“A lot of times, I don’t really get that much out of them,” he said, “but at the same time, you almost have to be there. And Nunavut at 15 without the City of Iqaluit is going to look bad.”

Coun. Romeyn Stevenson agreed Iqaluit should send a representative, but suggested council highlight such expenses in the budget for separate consideration.

In the end, council voted solidly in favour of a motion to send Wilman to the event as the city’s representative, six votes to one, with only Bell voting against.

“If we don’t run out of funds, I shall go,” Wilman said, drawing laughs from city officials and citizens at the meeting in Abe Okpik Community Hall.

The Iqaluit-based Northern Institute told Nunatsiaq News in December that it will not allow news media to report on speakers’ presentations at the Ottawa event.

Reporters must also pay the full attendance fee to attend, organizers said, the same amount as the City of Iqaluit’s representative.