Iqaluit councillor asks why fellow councillor sent home from FCM trip

Incumbent Iqaluit Mayor Mary Wilman ordered Coun. Noah Papatsie to return home early from a trip to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting in Edmonton last June. Councillors — at a behind-closed-doors in camera meeting — apparently ordered him to reimburse the city for $2,860. But that decision appears to be undocumented and it’s not clear if Papatsie, now a candidate for mayor, still owes money to the city. (FILE PHOTO)

Coun. Noah Papatsie, in an email to Coun. Kenny Bell, admitted to being sent home from a trip to the FCM conference in Edmonton last month “due to the condition I [was] in.”

Coun. Kenny Bell says that Coun. Noah Papatsie, who was sent home from a publicly-funded trip to the FCM earlier this year, should apologize in public, not behind closed doors. (FILE PHOTO)

Iqaluit’s fiery city councillor, Kenny Bell, is asking Iqaluit mayor Mary Wilman and Coun. Noah Papatsie to explain an incident this past spring that saw the mayor send Papatsie home from a publicly-funded trip to Edmonton.

“I don’t know all the truths to [the incident]. I would like to know why Coun. Papatsie was sent home… and how the mayor had the authority to do so,” Bell said at an Aug. 25 city council meeting.

It’s important this be addressed publicly, Bell told Nunatsiaq News in a recent interview, because it involves issues of transparency and holding publicly-elected officials accountable to the citizens of Iqaluit.

“The way it’s been handled, it doesn’t show the public that we have their best interest at heart,” Bell said.

Wilman traveled to Edmonton with councillors Papatsie and Akumalik in June to attend a conference held by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Bell said.

The first problem, Bell said, is that council didn’t even approve a motion to send a delegation to the conference in the first place.

“I would have adamantly voted no, because we don’t have the funds to be going to conferences like this,” Bell said.

Wilman has not responded to an interview request for this story, and Papatsie told Nunatsiaq News he cannot comment on the incident.

Nunatsiaq News also tried to reach councillors Stephen Mansell, Romeyn Stevenson, Joanasie Akumalik and Terry Dobbin, all of whom either declined to comment or didn’t reply.

In a Sept. 3 email exchange between Papatsie and Bell, obtained by Nunatsiaq News, Papatsie admits to being sent home from the trip by the mayor, “due to the condition I [was] in.”

And in another email exchange Nunatsiaq News received — this one between Bell and Wilman — the mayor admits to sending Papatsie home from the trip and defends her authority to do so.

“The mayor, as executive senior officer of the municipal corporation, has the authority and power to make a decision if the mayor feels it is in the best interest of the public,” Wilman wrote Bell Aug. 27.

Papatsie was ordered to reimburse the city for the costs of his flight, hotel and daily allowance, Wilman wrote Bell in the same email.

The incident was discussed in camera — behind closed doors — when Bell said he was away on summer holidays.

Wilman wrote in her email to Bell that Papatsie sincerely apologized at the in camera session and the matter, according to the mayor, is “done.”

“[Papatsie] made a mistake and has admitted to it,” Wilman wrote Bell Sept. 3.

But to Bell, the matter is not done.

“He was representing the city at the time, and in my opinion [Papatsie] should be saying sorry publicly.”

Discussing the incident in camera was a good idea, Bell said, because there could be different personal reasons that led to Papatsie being sent home.

“But there should’ve been a motion at the end of the session with a public apology and a repayment plan, if that’s what they’re going to make [Papatsie] do.”

Instead, Papatsie’s obligation to re-pay the city for the trip — an amount that Papatsie said in an email was $2,860 — is undocumented and therefore non-binding, Bell said.

That might be the case because, as Papatsie wrote Bell in his Sept. 3 email, the nomination deadline to run for Iqaluit mayor closed Sept. 15.

And, Bell said, if someone owes $500 or more to the city, they can’t run for public office.

Wilman and Papatsie are each running for the Iqaluit mayor position in the Oct. 19 municipal election.

But Bell said the resolution of this incident needs to be made public.

“There has to be a motion that says the person said sorry to council and is going to repay that trip. We can’t just go on somebody’s word.”

In his Sept. 3 email reply to Papatsie, Bell — who is not seeking re-election this municipal election — stressed that his motives aren’t personal.

“I really like you and have been a supporter since your by-election [win], but this hiding behind in camera to talk about your trip issue is not something I can or will support,” Bell wrote.

Former Iqaluit mayor Madeleine Redfern is the third and final candidate in the Iqaluit mayoral race.