Nunavut MLAs appoint Tom Sammurtok to legislative standing committees
Ex-cabinet minister eases into work as regular member
Tom Sammurtok, the MLA for Rankin Inlet North-Chesterfield Inlet, now sits on three standing committees of the Nunavut legislative assembly. His next court date, on two counts related to impaired driving, is set for June 4, two days after the spring sitting of the assembly is expected to end. (FILE PHOTO)
Former Nunavut cabinet minister Tom Sammurtok, who still faces two impaired driving charges, now appears to be easing into the work of a regular MLA.
When the legislative assembly opened May 26, Iqaluit-Tasiluk MLA George Hickes moved to appoint Sammurtok to three legislative standing committees: on legislation, on oversight of government operations and public accounts, and on community and economic development.
MLAs passed that motion unanimously.
The spring sitting of the legislature continues May 27 at 1:30 p.m. and wraps up June 2, two days before Sammurtok’s next scheduled court proceeding.
When Sammurtok’s charges came before a Justice of the Peace May 21 in Iqaluit, his lawyer, Alison Crowe, said she expects her client to plead guilty at a court date set for June 4.
“That will be for an indicated guilty plea at that time,” Crowe told a justice of the peace.
Police charged Sammurtok, the MLA for Rankin Inlet North-Chesterfield Inlet, with two counts related to impaired driving on April 13.
On April 14, Premier Peter Taptuna stripped Sammurtok of all of his cabinet responsibilities and on May 5, Sammurtok resigned from cabinet.
“I will not make any excuses or place the blame elsewhere, as I am fully responsible for my actions,” Sammurtok said in a statement shortly after he was charged.
And he suggested that MLAs will at some point impose some kind of discipline on him.
“When the Legislative Assembly reconvenes in May for our spring sitting, I will accept whatever discipline my colleagues deem appropriate,” Sammurtok said in his April statement.
But none of Sammurtok’s colleagues mentioned his impaired driving charge in the assembly May 26.
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