Staff working on guidelines for group to take charge after sexual assaults of the summer

It took a bit of shouting, but Iqaluit is on its way to setting up a formal public safety committee of council.

Councillor Jim Little had been spearheading the city's response after a series of incidents last summer, including a vicious sexual assault behind the high school, led to a public call for action.

Working with an ad hoc group developed at a public meeting in October, Little asked council last week to approve "a community safety committee" that would bring a draft community safety plan back to council by next September.

That's when the fireworks started.

Glenn Williams was first out of the gate to complain that the proposal included no terms of reference or itemization of the duties of the committee, including how often the committee would report to council, and implications for the city budget.

He suggested it be referred to a committee of the whole to hammer out those details.

If council is to take leadership on public safety, he said, "we should have more direction-setting involvement."

Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik came to Little's defence, saying the two had discussed the matter and wanted council's support so the ad-hoc group could continue its work and bring more specific proposals to council.

Then several other councillors weighed in to reinforce Williams' concerns until it became clear the motion was not going to pass, even though everyone appeared to agree with the need for a safety community.

It all became too much for Little, who is passionate about maintaining the momentum of the ad-hoc group.

"This is a matter of power and control as far as I can see," he charged about council's objections. "I'm sick of this."

"We had a public meeting that was extremely well attended – and subsequent meetings have been well attended."

"I'll be extremely disappointed if this doesn't pass", he said. If it goes to committee of the whole, "we could sit for days and spin our tires."

"Let's pass this damn thing."

At this point, the mayor called a 10-minute break, which included some serious private discussion between Little and Councillor Allan Hayward.

When council reconvened, Little and his seconder Jimmy Kilabuk accepted a friendly amendment that included agreement in principle to establishment of a safety committee, with further work to be done by staff and a council committee of the whole to hammer out the parameters within two weeks.

It passed, although Claude Martel objected to the cost of having staff work on the guidelines and voted against it.