MLAs gather in Iqaluit to hash out mandate before assembly opens
Newly elected members meet with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. board and elders
Newly elected members of Nunavut’s seventh legislative assembly gather for a photo in front of the Legislative Assembly building in Iqaluit on Tuesday. The 22 MLAs participated in a caucus retreat from Monday through Wednesday. (Photo by Daron Letts)
Newly elected members of Nunavut’s seventh legislative assembly worked to hone the government’s new emerging mandate at a caucus retreat in Iqaluit this week, Premier John Main said in an interview Friday.
“The mandate retreat was an important exercise for us in terms of defining our priority areas,” he said of the three-day gathering of the 22 MLAs that wrapped up Wednesday at the Aqsarniit hotel.
“It’s still a work in progress.”
Discussions provided a chance to reflect on the needs of Nunavummiut and the opportunities and challenges facing the territory. Talks were grounded in Inuit qaujimajatuqangit, or Inuit traditional knowledge and ways of knowing, Main said.
The retreat included conversations with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. board members and elders from the Baffin region. Poor weather hampered travel from the other regions.
Although the mandate remains in draft form, the MLAs built consensus around four “pillars,” Main said, referring to them as “groups of priorities.”
The pillars include economic growth and employment; meeting family and community needs; reducing barriers to communication between government departments; and a commitment to consider the territory’s long-term future when MLAs vote in the legislature.
The meeting piggybacked on a smaller cabinet retreat held in Arviat in December, Main said.
The nine cabinet members, including Main, plan to refine the draft mandate in coming weeks, he said.
The last legislative assembly before the Oct. 27 territorial election adopted as a guiding principle Katujjiluta, which in Inuktitut means “a commitment to work in unity to manifest the courageous dream.”
The new mandate has a new title, Main said, which will be revealed during the first sitting of the new assembly scheduled to begin Feb. 9.
“We have a strong footing toward progress we will make as a territory over the next four years,” he said.
If the next mandate is another aspirational exercise, like all the previous ones have been, then it will not have been worth the time and effort.
For a mandate to be of value it must specify what will be done to achieve the goals.
It’s not good enough for the mandate to say, for example, “We will build 1,000 houses in each of the next 4 years.”
The mandate needs to say who will build those houses, how those houses will be built, how the land will be made available, where the money will come from, etc.
There is only 21 MLA and 1 for NTI Paul
Should be a crime to wear a Canadians Jacket in Nunavut.
The article says Katujjiluta means “a commitment to work in unity to manifest the courageous dream.” No it doesn’t. It means “working in unity.” It doesn’t
say anything about a courageous dream. Inuktitut/Inuktut words can pack a lot of meaning, just not quite that much.