Minister evicts Iqaluit housing board

CHARLOTTE PETRIE

The government of Nunavut has replaced the board that runs the Iqaluit Housing Authority, after board members refused to reverse a decision to fire Susan Spring, the Housing Authority’s manager.

Kelvin Ng, the minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corp., has already appointed an interim board consisting of senior housing corporation officials. The corporation’s president, Pam Hine, will serve as interim chair, Joy Thompson will serve as interim vice-chair, while David Akoak and Chris D’Arcy will serve as members. Spring was expected back at work by the end of this week.

Bryan Hellwig, the outgoing board chair, alleges that Spring hired a tenant relations officer before the advertised closing date for the job, and that the board fired Spring to maintain what he calls the “integrity” of the housing authority.

“We try to promote some kind of integrity here at the board of the Iqaluit Housing Authority, and when our manager does something like this… well, it was a unanimous decision to fire her,” Hellwig said.

After Ng told the board on Feb. 20 to reinstate Spring or face dissolution, Hellwig responded by telling Ng that his entire board would resign effective Feb. 24.

Spring did not return or answer phone calls made before Nunatsiaq News press-time this week, so Nunatsiaq News is unable to provide Spring’s response to Hellwig’s allegations.

The tenant officer’s position had been advertised with a closing date of Jan. 15. Hellwig alleges that on Jan. 13, Spring had told one of the candidates on Jan. 9 that the job was theirs.

Hellwig and Ng agree on one thing — that Spring had a reasonable explanation for filling the position before the closing date. The housing corporation was holding a workshop for tenant relations officers that started two days before the job’s closing date.

Spring wanted the new tenant officer to attend the training workshop.

“I told her ‘your [her reason] may have had some merit, but you didn’t consult with the board,’ ” Hellwig said.

Hellwig alleges that communication between Spring and the board had been “deteriorating” for some time and this latest incident was simply the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Wrongful dismissal?

Ng, however, said Hellwig and his board exposed the housing authority to a potentially expensive lawsuit for wrongfully dismissing Spring.

“I am strongly urging the board to reverse this decision,” Ng wrote in a Feb. 20 letter to Hellwig that was leaked this week to Nunatsiaq News. “Failure to overturn this and notify my office of the reversal by Monday, February 24, 2003 at 17:00 EST shall result in the dissolution of the board.”

In the same letter, Ng cited “significant financial repercussions” as the reason for demanding that the board reverse its decision, adding he didn’t feel the board had “sufficient cause for termination.”

“Certainly she could have handled herself more appropriately, but whether it warrants a dismissal? The firing wasn’t appropriate action based on what Susan did,” Ng told Nunatsiaq News.

“We think that she probably should have gotten some kind of disciplinary action, but firing was too dramatic. It’s too far of a step to go, and that’s what led [us to consider] the strong potential for a successful wrongful dismissal case,” said.

Hellwig admits that his board’s decision to fire Spring may be on shaky legal ground, but he says that, nevertheless, the members did what they felt was necessary.

“The wrongful dismissal suit was certainly looming in the air. However, it just seems that the board was very intent on having [Spring] removed…,” he said.

Hellwig says the now-defunct board is frustrated by the symbolism of Ng’s action.

“The [board’s] overall impression is ‘why are we here?’ sometimes. Whatever decisions we make can be overturned by somebody. We are a rubber stamp. End of story. This letter confirms it,” he said.

Unlike elected housing associations, housing “authorities” are run by boards made of people appointed by the territorial government.

Since all interim board membes are employees of the Housing Corporation, the Iqaluit Housing Authority is now directly under the control of the territorial government.

The interim board will now seek nominations for new permanent members. Ng says a new board for the Iqaluit Housing Authority should be in place by April 1, 2003.