Kilabuk hosts legislative roadshow

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

PANGNIRTUNG — Inside Atagooyuk School, Peter Kilabuk is just a regular guy.

“Hey Peter,” a student at the high school says as he passes by. Kilabuk turns his head away from a conversation to say a quick “Hey” in return.

Kilabuk, Nunavut’s minister of education and the MLA for Pangnirtung, returned home this week to play gracious host to the fall sitting of the legislative assembly.

“This means a lot to me,” he says. “It means a lot to the community to meet the people they’ve seen on TV.”

Indeed, when the legislature is in session in Iqaluit, Kilabuk, more than any other MLA, throws the nod to his home community via the television camera, wishing his daughter a happy birthday or saying hello to his wife.

He knows they’re watching. This week, Pangnirtung residents got to watch him live from the gymnasium of Alookie School, Pangnirtung’s elementary school.

The gym was transformed into a grand chamber, with a diorama of the community, designed and built by students, as its centrepiece. During the opening of the session on Monday, the crowd overflowed into the hallway.

Most stayed just long enough to snap photos of the tiny members of the Inuktitut choir, including throatsingers Martha Nakoolak and Marlene Alivaktuk, both in Grade 5, who stole the show.

Legislative Assembly yo-yos

Tuesday was just another school day for Alookie students. With no pressure to perform, they had time to play with their official legislative assembly yo-yos, distributed to all students as part of a package of more practical supplies including pencils, erasers and a pencil case.

The students had fun with a different kind of legislative assembly yo-yo as well. They decorated a wall outside the gym with a series of cartoons poking fun at MLAs.

One depicts Kilabuk at the front of a classroom, with Hunter Tootoo, the MLA for Iqaluit Centre, sitting at a desk among students.

The cartoon bears the title “Bored of Education.” A second cartoon in the Bored of Education series shows Kilabuk on a panel of four goofy students, one of whom is taking a nap.

A medical-themed cartoon shows Health Minister Ed Picco explaining an x-ray to a patient, and a strange but amusing one has the heads of Kilabuk, Premier Paul Okalik and Jack Anawak, the minister of culture, language, elders and youth, pasted on cartoon bodies painted yellow, above the line: “MLAs, members, they stick together like a bunch of bananas.”

Perhaps as a subtle retort to students, the assembly served sliced bananas as part of its evening snack Monday.

Heavy load of legislation

Cabinet ministers started the fall session with a heavy load of legislation, including a new elections bill, an amendment to expand coverage of the Workers’ Compensation Act and the introduction of Nunavut’s first human rights law.

In addition, Pangnirtung residents were invited to attend public meetings on the review of two proposed pieces of legislation that would produce new versions of the Official Languages Act and the Education Act.

Although the Pangnirtung session wrapped up on Friday, members will resume on Nov. 19 for two weeks in Iqaluit. It will be the last session before the Christmas break, and will be dedicated almost entirely to next year’s capital budget.

Education Minister Peter Kilabuk won’t be in the spotlight again until after Christmas, when the standing committee on health and education is expected to table its report on the review of the Education Act.

So his memories of playing host to the assembly in Pangnirtung will have to last.

As Harold Wheeler told his class of Grade 6 and 7 students at Atagooyuk School as he introduced Kilabuk, “Who knows when you’re going to get this opportunity again.”