'We have a commitment to the 'Kitikmeot; and we intend to fulfill it'

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. will not close its small Kitikmeot news bureau and will resume service to the region after they fill a vacant job in Cambridge Bay, a CBC North spokesperson said last week.

"We have a commitment to the Kitikmeot and we intend to fulfill it," Sue Glowach, a CBC communications officer, said June 13.

Glowach made the comments in response to letters of complaint that two Kitikmeot MLAs sent last week to Timothy Casgrain, the chair of CBC's board of directors.

In one letter, Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson speculated that CBC plans to either downsize or dump its Kitikmeot office.

"Residents of Cambridge Bay and the Kitikmeot are deeply concerned that CBC's Cambridge Bay facility appears to be in the process of being dismantled," Peterson wrote.

In another letter, Nattilik MLA Leona Aglukkaq said any reduction in service could be in breach of the Broadcasting Act.

"Such a development, would, in my view, constitute a step backwards with the respect to the corporation's ability to fulfill its statutory mandate," Aglukkaq said.

In an interview, Aglukkaq said the people of the Kitikmeot region feel left out and alienated even at the best of times.

"The people in the region always say their issues are not being recorded or noted," Aglukkaq said.

She also questioned the quality of CBC's recruiting efforts, saying the vacant job in Cambridge Bay appeared to be advertised for only about a week.

"If you're trying to recruit someone, you need more time than that," Aglukkaq said.

CBC North's Kitikmeot bureau opened April 1, 1998 in Cambridge Bay after years of lobbying by Kitkimeot leaders.

But the bureau, usually staffed by only one person, fell silent this past March. That's when reporter Matthew Illaszewicz left CBC for a job in Iqaluit with the Government of Nunavut.

Glowach said CBC North found a reporter to fill the vacancy, but the person backed out at the last minute to take a job in southern Canada.

Since then, CBC has not been able to recruit a suitable candidate, ideally a bilingual person who could handle the work of a senior reporter.

"Yes, recruiting is an issue. We are having a problem with that right now," Glowach said.

At the same time, CBC will relocate its Cambridge Bay bureau to another building, Glowach said.

To that end, she said they hope to lease a two- or three-bedroom unit in Cambridge Bay that would serve as a combined staff house and office.

She said that's why Cambridge Bay residents have seen the CBC's old facilities being dismantled.