Nunavut MLAs names former NWT judge, MLA as new ethics chief

Ted Richard, who retired from the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories in 2012, will serve as Nunavut’s next integrity commissioner. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut MLAs decided Sept. 9 to ask that Nunavut Commissioner Edna Elias appoint Ted Richard, a former Northwest Territories legislator and judge, to serve as Nunavut’s integrity commissioner for the next five years.

Richard succeeds Norman Pickell, who was appointed to the position Sept. 9, 2008. Pickell’s five-year term has just expired.

Richard, a veteran lawyer from Yellowknife, served as a member of the NWT legislative assembly from 1983 to 1987 and was re-elected in the fall of 1987.

In 1988, Richard quit the NWT legislature to accept an appointment to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories, where he served until his retirement in 2012.

Richard also served in 2010 and 2011 as chair of Nunavut’s most recent electoral boundary commission.

That’s the body that produced the 22-seat electoral map that will be used in the Nunavut’s next territorial election on Oct. 28.

The integrity commissioner is an officer of the Nunavut legislative assembly, appointed by MLAs and not the government.

The job includes advising MLAs on ethics, including their obligations under the Integrity Act.

The integrity commissioner also may review allegations of ethical misconduct by MLAs if requested to do so.

Until recently, “any person” could request such a review.

But this past May, MLAs gave speedy passage to a set of amendments to the Integrity Act that bar senior civil servants and many other employees from making such complaints.

The MLAs’ Sept. 9 motion is called a “recommendation” because the formal appointment is made by the commissioner.