Kitikmeot Inuit Association faces ‘struggles in all directions,’ VP says
Former president Stanley Anablak resigned 1 day before Oct. 4 AGM; executive director Paul Emingak left over summer
This is where users are redirected when they try to go to the Kitikmeot Inuit Association’s webpage, kitia.ca. This page asks for credit card information, but it’s not clear if the fundraiser is legitimate. (Screenshot via kitia.ca)
Anybody looking for information on the Kitikmeot Inuit Association’s website these days is instead asked to donate $18 to Maayan, a 12-year-old girl with a rare neurological disorder.
The association has lost its internet domain, kitia.ca, to a group called Wellsprings of Maayan, and this development is only one of several challenges the association experienced this year.
The association’s official Facebook page was “paused” June 28, according to a post from Fred Pedersen, who at the time had just taken the reins as executive director from Paul Emingak.
Emingak left the association under unclear circumstances. The association’s Facebook page is still on hiatus.
Three months later, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association annual general meeting began in Cambridge Bay with the announcement of another significant change in leadership.
“As per yesterday’s news release, Stanley Anablak has announced his decision to retire as president of KIA,” said Bob Aknavigak, vice-president of social and cultural development, on Oct. 4.
Anablak had been serving the final months of his four-year term, which was set to end Dec. 31.
No one is saying much about everything that has been going on within the organization’s leadership, or the disappearance of its online presence.
Contacted by Nunatsiaq News, Pedersen declined an interview over the phone, but offered answers to questions by email. He did not say whether Emingak left on his own or if he was let go.
“We don’t disclose personnel matters,” Pedersen said in an email.
He also declined to provide further details to explain the timing of Anablak’s departure, redirecting Nunatsiaq News to Anablak himself.
Anablak has not responded to requests for comment.
Pedersen did refer to challenges with staffing to explain why the association has struggled so much this year with its web presence, although the details he offered were scant.
“Over the past couple years, especially during COVID-19, KIA has experienced changes within the organization,” he said in an email.
“There have been staffing changes, as well as changes to vendors and outside organizations providing services to KIA.”
Pedersen said the association is in the process of coming back online, but did not give a timeline for when that might happen.
“Members can always call KIA to get information, we do have [community liaison offices] in each community,” he said.
Meanwhile, back at the annual general meeting, the association’s vice-president of economic development described the year as “challenging, with struggles in all directions” in her financial report.
“We must continue to support each other throughout these struggles,” Clara Evalik said on Oct. 4.
Nunatsiaq News reached out to the organization’s three vice-presidents, Aknavigak, Evalik and Attima Hadlari, but did not receive a response. Nunatsiaq News also reached out to Emingak to ask about the circumstances of his departure, but did not receive a response.
Pedersen told Nunatsiaq News the struggles Evalik referenced in the financial report pertain to the challenges of running programs over the past year with COVID-19 restrictions in place.
Nunatsiaq News has requested a copy of Kitikmeot Inuit Association’s 2021-22 audited financial statements, but has not received them.
Currently, KIA’s three vice-presidents are sharing presidential duties until a new president is elected.
Meanwhile, more changes are coming to the association, with elections scheduled for Dec. 12. The association released its unofficial list of nominees last week.
Thanks again for the kind monies received. The KIA has been lacking lately so to speak. Are we really represented? Facebook posts by some VPs say Cambridge Bay should not allow other communities to entertain them. Not a good sign of representation for KitikMEUT!
I hope they overcome all obstacles. Fred you’re doing a great job.
Someone should ask how much the president of KitIA makes. This is our beneficiary money. I have heard that the salary is above $400k! Without financial statements, there is no way of confirming.
-Accept large sums of money from Feds and Mines
-Give jobs and service contracts to friends and family
-Work never gets done and contracts expire
-Give some money to beneficiaries to keep them happy and let the rest of the money disappear
-Blame shortfalls on predecessor and then resign
-Rinse and repeat
What a scary situation this year has been. What has our IT Division been doing? Joey Evalik has been in charge of that section, hasn’t been doing much it seems.
What is scarier, Freddy in charge or the utter silence of Stanley and Paul leaving.
We still want to know why a huge meeting was held in Edmonton River Cree Resort
Perhaps if you just called KIA you could clear some of your concerns. If you put in as much effort as you do commenting on every article into getting answers to your questions you would probably have had your answers long ago.
1) The individual you mentioned in IT has not worked there in who knows how long, 5, 6 months? Maybe call and ask if you’re that curious.
2) Board Governance training open to all northern companies across NWT, Yukon and Nunavut, hosted by a third party in a central location, Edmonton was held at the River Cree in October. Perhaps KIA attended? It would be quite beneficial if they did given its was a multi-day workshop that focused on honing skill sets of governing members as well as ensuring there’s a clear understanding of rolls and responsibilities and furthermore how to carry out those roles and responsibilities.
Freddy has been there for a significant amount of time and has done well for the organization. He knows the NA inside out, and negotiated many a good thing for the region. How is that scary? What’s scary is having someone who doesn’t know anything about the organization take on the reigns. What a silly commenter, spreading hate behind a moniker. Go to a board meeting and in your time if you think you an do better.
Freddy has been there for a significant amount of time and has done well for the organization. He knows the NA inside out, and negotiated many a good thing for the region. How is that scary? What’s scary is having someone who doesn’t know anything about the organization take on the reigns. What a silly commenter, spreading hate behind a moniker. Go to a board meeting and put in your time if you think you can do better.
KIA has not “lost” its domain. It’s still there, registered on their behalf by SSI Micro.
https://www.whois.com/whois/kitia.ca
It’s more likely that their Website hosting package hasn’t been paid or that their website has been compromised and is redirecting traffic.
It still sucks and IT seems more interested in Facebook and Memes during the majority of a work day
Since when has a regional Inuit Org ever released its financial statements to the media? The Inuit orgs have always been close lipped about their financials publicly and only provide to individual Inuit on request or presented at their own meetings. Their theory goes that the media is a public institution and since it is Inuit money, it is none of the media’s business.
Even the QIA, which has the best online presence of any of the regional orgs, only provides a non-consolidated financial summary in its annual report, which is more focused on activities, not money.
NTI does provide audited statements online, but is chronically late in doing so. 2-3 years after the fact does translate into effective transparency.
The Kitikmeot Inuit Association approved its prior year audited statements at its Annual General Meeting last month under full scrutiny of community delegates. But I guess there was no media that bothered to be present to take notes at that time, interview a delegate or two about what they thought of the financial performance of their Org etc. etc.
To ask for financial statements expecting to receive them, then saying they did not get them and make this part of the story is slanted journalism. The intention of the reporter appears to be to make the Kitikmeot Inuit Association seem more disorganized and/or evasive than it may actually be.
If public financial transparency is an issue for the KIA, it is as much so as for any of the Inuit organizations, be it online or otherwise. In the meantime, if you want to report the news in western Nunavut, perhaps the better strategy is to actually go there.
It makes me lose faith in our Inuit Org that is suppose to represent us or have our best interest at hand. Seriously, everyone that was there was on a self-serving mission. All of the years, I trusted and believed in the leadership that would do the right thing for beneficiaries-I was bamboozled. KIA Accountability and transparency is what we want, thanks Freddy for stepping up–time for you to steer the ship!