Adjudicator will rule on one-man rights crusade

After a grueling, four-day hearing in Iqaluit, Robert Ayalik of Kugluktuk must wait at least four more weeks to find out if his one-man crusade for Inuit rights will be upheld by a fair practices adjudicator.

Ayalik, 40, filed a racial discrimination complaint against the Government of Nunavut – with the GN’s Fair Practices Office – in July, 2002.

He alleges the GN imposed a “constructive dismissal” in July 2001, by cancelling his work assignment in Kugluktuk with the department of health and ordering him back to a job with the department of human resources in Iqaluit.

He said GN officials knew, or ought to have known, that this would force him to resign, since he had to remain in Kugluktuk to attend to a sick child.

Ayalik accuses the GN of doing this to punish him for complaining – earlier in July 2001 – that there were no Inuit names on a provisional agenda for a health conference held that year in Rankin Inlet.

At the time, he claimed that this was a violation of Article 32 of the Nunavut land claims agreement, which requires governments to consult Inuit on the design of social programs that affect Inuit.

In an interview after the hearing, Ayalik said he’s “very disappointed” that no one from NTI responded to his complaints about either the Rankin Inlet health conference, or the manner of his departure from the GN.

When that conference, which had been moved from Kugluktuk to Rankin Inlet, was finally held in August of that year, several Inuit did attend, including elder Ollie Itinnuar, who conducted a workshop and was a guest speaker.

In his final submission last Friday, Ayalik’s voice was choked with emotion when he described how his older sister urged him to make the complaints that he says cost him his job.

Ayalik wants $250,000 in compensation for lost wages, and other relief to compensate him for loss of reputation, and the suffering he says he endured, including bouts of depression and anger.

Sara Kay, a Yellowknife lawyer who presided over the hearing on behalf of Nunavut’s Fair Practices Office, said she will need at least four weeks to produce a written decision.

To make that ruling, she will have to weigh many hours of evidence given by eight witnesses, in a hearing that often turned into a wide-ranging hearing on how the GN treats its Inuit employees.

Doug Garson, the GN’s lawyer, insisted in his opening statement and in his final submission that GN officials did not discriminate against Ayalik on the basis of his Inuit ancestry, and even went out of their way to help him.

Tom Thompson, who was an assistant deputy minister in the department of human resources at the time, said Ayalik had been working for the HR department in Iqaluit, but requested a transfer to Kugluktuk so he could attend to a child who was suffering from a serious chronic health problem.

Thompson did this in the face of strong opposition from other people in the government.

“He [Thompson] got people in the government upset about it, but he had to do it to accommodate Mr. Ayalik,” Garson said.

Through Thompson’s efforts, Ayalik was moved from HR in Iqaluit to a health department job in Kugluktuk called “Nunavut workforce specialist.” The job involved the recruitment of Inuit for health department jobs, and the promotion of health-related careers to younger Inuit.

But throughout the hearing, Ayalik repeatedly attacked Thompson’s conduct, and that of three other senior civil servants: Andrew Johnston, then deputy minister of health; Dr. Keith Best, an assistant deputy minister of health; and David Omilgoitok, who was then deputy minister of human resources.

As for the health conference in Rankin Inlet that prompted Ayalik’s complaints, Garson pointed out that Inuit did attend.

“Inuit attended the conference. They attended and they participated. This shows there was no intent to exclude him because he was an Inuk,” Garson said.

In his evidence, Best said Ayalik’s name was dropped from an earlier list of conference participants because the conference site was moved from Kugluktuk, Ayalik’s home community, to Rankin Inlet. John Patterk of Rankin Inlet was then assigned the tasks that Ayalik had been responsible for, Best said.

As for the lack of Inuit names on the list that Ayalik saw, Best said it was “a fluid list,” with names being added and dropped from one day to the next.

But Ayalik blasted Best for not responding to an e-mail complaining about the apparent lack of Inuit participation at the Rankin conference.

When he received no response from Best, who was his supervisor, Ayalik went over Best’s head, sending an e-mail to Andrew Johnston, and even to Premier Paul Okalik and Health Minister Ed Picco.

Best and Ayalik, had a short, stormy meeting in Kugluktuk. Best insisted that he told Ayalik that there might be a way to put his name back on the list of people invited to the conference, but the meeting fell apart.

“He [Ayalik] was saying to me that I was racist just like all the other Qallunaat from down south. I objected to being called a racist and ended the meeting,” Best said.

After that, Best said he withdrew from the dispute, and let Johnson and other senior managers handle it.

The next day, July 24, 2001, Andrew Johnson gave Ayalik a letter ordering him back to his old job in Iqaluit within 30 days.