MLA retreat produces new wish list

After meeting behind closed doors at a full caucus retreat in Arviat last week, Nunavut MLAs have emerged with a wish list stating what they want to do between now and the next election.

Like the 1999 Bathurst Mandate, which members of the first legislative assembly created after a full caucus retreat in Bathurst Inlet, this one is also called “Pinasuaqtavut.” (In English, it means, roughly, “that which we have set out to do.”)

The cabinet will finish off the second Pinasuaqtavut document, get it printed up, and then release it to the public after the legislative assembly resumes sitting in Iqaluit on Nov. 16.

That session will start off with a throne speech that will likely incorporate much of Pinasuaqtavut number two.

Specifically, MLAs want to:

* Open a Nunavut trade school by the end of the current legislative assembly;
* Set up an Electoral Boundaries Commission by early 2006, well before the next territorial election;
* Finish plans for an Inuit cultural school;
* Finish plans for a territorial heritage centre, and to take back archeological treasures now stored outside of Nunavut;
* Support health care reform, including 24-hour care for elders;
* Work for a public education system that focuses on graduating bilingual youth able to succeed in post-secondary studies;
* Find practical ways of incorporating Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit into the provision of public services;
* Support home ownership programs, and work with NTI in persuading Ottawa to join in on the GN-NTI 10-year Inuit housing action plan;
* Carry out the recommendations of the Auditor General of Canada and legislative assembly standing committees to strengthen financial management in government departments and territorial Crown corporations;
* Explore the idea of legislation governing the accountability of public bodies across Nunavut;
* Carry out the Nunavut Economic Development Strategy aggressively, focusing on mining and other “sectoral” areas.