Resolute crash not related to my departure, Scott Bateman says

First Air President and CEO Scott Bateman, right, is pictured here with Harry Flaherty, president of Qikiqtaaluk Corp. at the launch of Qikiqtani First Aviation Ltd. last February. Bateman’s abrupt resignation Dec. 13 was not related to the crash of flight 6560 near Resolute Bay this past August, Bateman said Jan. 20 in a statement issued through a lawyer. (FILE PHOTO)

Scott Bateman, the former president and CEO of First Air, said Jan. 20 in a statement issued through his lawyer that his departure from First Air this past Dec. 13 had nothing to do with the Aug. 20 crash of flight 6560 near Resolute Bay.

The lawyer, Janice Payne of Nelligan O’Brien Payne, emailed the statement to Nunatsiaq News in response to remarks made by Makivik Corp.’s outgoing president Pita Aatami on Dec. 14, and quoted in an article published in Nunatsiaq Online.

In the article Aatami said, “It has not been an easy year for First Air.”

He went on to say that “It really affected Scott and it also affected me. To go through something as traumatic as losing that many people and then having to answer to their families… it’s been horrific.”

But Bateman said his departure “was in no way related to my ability to address the Resolute Bay incident” and that he “worked tirelessly” to handle all matters that arose from it, as well as perform other duties at First Air.

He said in his statement that he left First Air because of “a material difference of opinion with the Board of Directors as to how corporate business was being transacted and the impact on me in my role as President and CEO of First Air.”

Bateman also described his departure from First Air as an “involuntary resignation.”

He said he issued the statement because First Air’s board has not clarified the circumstances that surrounded his departure.

“As a result, I felt compelled to protect my good name and credibility built up over many years by issuing a statement to the media,” Bateman said.

Bateman issued that statement the day after Jobie Tukkiapik of Kuujjuaq defeated Aatami in Makivik’s presidential election.