Heated debate over handling of subsidiaries influenced outcome of vote

KUUJJUAQ – Michael Gordon is the new vice-president for economic development at Makivik Corporation, following the birthright organization's March 30 election.

Gordon took 55 per cent of votes cast in the election, held on the last day of Makivik's annual general meeting in Umiujaq.

The final election tally shows 1,272 votes for Gordon and 1,029 for the incumbent, Adamie Alaku.

Last Thursday afternoon in Umiujaq, Gordon's election chances received a boost after a heated discussion at the AGM, which Taqramiut Nipingat Inc. radio network aired live to Nunavimmiut.

Gordon, who attended the meeting as an observer, challenged Alaku over his handling of Makivik subsidiaries and the hiring of non-beneficiaries to manage these Inuit-owned companies.

Gordon honed in on the financial woes of Halutik Enterprises, which distributes oil and gas in Kuujjuaq, Kangiqsualujjuaq and Quaqtaq.

Halutik, which has lost money for several years, is up for sale. But potential buyers, including the Fédération des Cooperatives du Nouveau-Québec, which ships fuel to other Nunavik communities, have reportedly lost interest because Halutik could not produce up-to-date financial records.

Several Kuujjuammiut said that hearing this on-air exchange between the two candidates made them vote in Gordon's favour.

About 39 per cent of the 6,003 beneficiaries who were eligible to vote, or 2,325, did so. The turnout was only slightly higher than for the Quebec election four days earlier.

In Nunavik's largest community, Kuujjuaq, where there are 1,003 beneficiaries, only 353 voted.

More than 60 per cent of their votes went to Gordon, a former mayor of the town. Beneficiaries in seven other Nunavik communities also gave the majority of their votes to Gordon, who was the vice-chairman of the Kativik Regional Government until the election.

Despite concerns over Halutik, financial information tabled at the AGM shows Makivik's overall fortunes are improving.

Delegates approved Makivik's financial statements, which shows beneficiaries' equity this year at $216.1 million, up from $198.5 million last year.

At the meeting, delegates learned that Makivik should soon receive more than $85 million from the Nunavik Inuit Land Claim Agreement.

On March 28, Jim Prentice, the federal minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, tabled the NICLA in the House of Commons. The NICLA provides Nunavimmiut ownership over 80 per cent of all the offshore islands, with both surface and subsurface rights.

The deal will come into effect when parliament passes the NICLA, which Makivik, the Government of Nunavut and the federal government signed on Dec. 1, 2006.

The NICLA gives $39.8 million for implementation, and $54.8 million to the Nunavik Inuit Trust. This trust will shortly make cash payouts to individual beneficiaries.

The Sanarrutik agreement with Quebec also gives Makivik $20 million for the next 10 years, followed by about $10 million a year for the next 10 years. Through a profit-sharing agreement, Makivik will receive similarly large chunks of cash every year from the Xstrata Raglan nickel mine.

Delegates to the AGM also discussed self-government negotiations, which ground to halt in February when Quebec called an election.

Now that Quebec has its new government in place, self-government negotiators say the signature of an agreement-in-principle for Nunavik may take place as soon as this summer