Ike Haulli of Igloolik, owner of Savik Enterprises Ltd. in 2016, when he served as president of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of that year’s Northern Lights trade show in Ottawa. (File photo)
GG office revokes Nunavut sexual abuser’s Diamond Jubilee Medal
Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council had demanded removal of Ike Haulli’s honour
Following a campaign that the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council began more than a year ago, the office of the Governor General of Canada has revoked Ike Haulli’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.
“The Governor General has cancelled this award, effective April 18, 2019. Thank you to the 272 supporters for signing our Change.org petition. We appreciate your help,” the Qulliit council said on its Facebook page.
Madeleine Redfern, the president of the Nunavut Inuit Women’s Association, praised the decision.
“It’s important to break the silence regarding child abuse & condemn such behaviour. It can no longer be acceptable to protect predators,” she said in a tweet.
Haulli, a prominent business owner in Igloolik who, until recently, had served as a president and director of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce, and as co-chair of the Northern Lights trade show in Ottawa, was exposed as an egregious sexual predator in a civil judgment that Justice Earl Johnson of the Nunavut court released on April 18, 2018.
In the judgment, Johnson ordered Haulli to pay $1.22 million in damages, to be divided among four complainants who Haulli had sexually abused between 1968 and 1986.
Johnson found that for all four victims, Haulli’s sexual abuse had led to extensive, lifelong emotional damage.
To make his findings, Johnson applied the standard of proof that is required in civil court: a balance of probabilities.
That is a lower standard than the proof beyond a reasonable doubt required in criminal proceedings
“I am satisfied on a balance of probabilities that the defendant sexually assaulted the plaintiffs as alleged in the statements of claim and is liable to them under tort law for the damages they suffered,” Johnson said his judgment.
But for one of the four complainants in the civil case, a sexual assault that Haulli inflicted on them did lead to a criminal conviction.
On Sept. 23, 2008, at a Nunavut court sitting in Iglook, Haulli had pleaded guilty to one count of having sex with a person under the age of 14.
He also pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a person known as E.K., who was not a claimant in any of the lawsuits that Johnson ruled on.
It’s important to break the silence regarding child abuse & condemn such behaviour. It can no longer be acceptable to protect predators. It’s all our responsibility to keep our children safe.
Madeleine Redfern President Nunavut Inuit Women’s Association https://t.co/3o59vAQKrg pic.twitter.com/IPhqlWRWmB
— Madeleine Redfern (@madinuk) May 31, 2019
On the same day that Nunatsiaq News reported Haulli’s judgement, the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce removed him from their board.
Haulli had served as BRCC president until 2017.
“The Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce has had no prior knowledge of the legal proceedings involving Ike Haulli, but following a detailed review of available information, action was swiftly taken to remove Ike Haulli from the board of directors,” the BRCC said
In May of 2018, the the Qulliit Nunavut Status of Women Council asked the office of the Governor General of Canada to remove Haulli’s Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, which he had received in 2012.
To press their case, Qulliit started an online petition on the change.org website.
“Haulli’s violent, predatory and calculated behaviour was heinous. By referring to his crimes as mistakes he attempted to minimize his acts of traumatizing violence,” Qulliit said in their petition.
And under pressure from MLAs, Paul Quassa, then the Nunavut premier, agreed in June 2018 to write to the Governor General to have Haulli’s honour removed.
“We were informed that within the Nunavut territory, sexual abuse is 155 per cent higher than the national average. We need to tackle this issue as a government,” said the MLA for Arviat North-Whale Cove, John Main.
That’s a start, there is a few more medal winners that need their medals taken away, I could not believe how some of these guys, it all, were awarded this medal.
I guess people don’t really know how they conduct themselves but just in the public eye.
Congratulations Madeleine on your continued hard work and commitment to Inuit and our communities ♥️
Congratulations Madeleine on your… tweet? She had nothing to do with the medal being revoked.
What? You don’t know what you don’t know but still comment and judge. Madeleine contacted both Pauktuutit and QNSWC to tell them about Ike Haulli’s judgments and his Queen Jubilee award. She contacted every person who could have put Ike’s name forward for the QJII award. She suggested that Pauktuutit and QNSWC request the GG revoke his medal. She provided them and GG all the information including the criminal judgment, civil judgement, information about the award, process for revocation and media stories. She recommended QNSWC do the online petition and that the petition be printed off and presented to the GG’s office and the Minister of QNSWC. She wrote her own letter to the GG which was sent to the women’s organizations. She emailed and called almost every month for the entire year. She worked with others such as Susan Aglukark to continue to apply the pressure so the award would be revoked. Yes, she did tweet. You belittle and criticize Madeleine but not Ike. Thanks What? for proving ignorance, sexism and misogyny is real in Nunavut.
Congratulations to Ms. Redfern, Ms. Aglukark and congratulations to Qulliit Status of Women and to everyone else who spoke out on this issue.
The comment by “For What?” is, unfortunately, so sadly typical of Nunavut.
Whenever they achieve something successful by speaking out an important issue, educated and articulate Nunavut women are aways undermined, put down, belittled and insulted. Always, with very few exceptions.
Everyone knows that abusing women is a recreational game for many Nunavut men, but it’s not just the men. Inuit women in Nunavut are constantly undermining, sabotaging and abusing each other too. And for what? For childish reasons related to resentment, insecurity and jealousy. Most of the people who do this are stupid little cowards.
I saw this happening in government at the highest levels, in the workplace at all levels, inside the Inuit organizations, inside families, everywhere, successful women being put down and undermined
Meanwhile, at the same time that all the grown women and men in Nunavut go around acting like little children, putting each other down, huge issues like sexual abuse get ignored.
There are all kinds of abusers out there in Nunavut who are much worse than Mr. Haulli who have never been caught or exposed and they are still abusing women, girls and boys, including sexual abusing and incesting girls in their own families.
Everybody knows that sexual abuse of children and women is normalized in Nunavut so everyone keeps quiet and lies about it. Mr. Haulli was a rare exception. Most of the family and community sexual abusers are never exposed and brought to justice. So many of the people who know about his are too cowardly to do anything, so it will continue.
The only way this will change is to build solidarity among people who are brave enough to speak out.
Hey, when I’m wrong, I’ll admit that I’m wrong. I was unaware of what you guys said, I was just going off the story which didn’t mention the work that Redfern put in. But hey, on the positive side, my comment did bring forward your responses, which will show other readers what they may have missed. Thanks guys.
Props to For What for stating that. Not often do you see such class and tact in the comments section. Tip of the hat to you!
Great work to all who made this happen. The award was a great honor and a rare one at that. The recipients should be of good character.
“Should be of good character” I am not sure how some of these individuals were selected but a few of them that were should not have been, what was the criteria and how were they selected?
Some of these medal winners are not of good character.