Resolute Bay’s mayor, acclaimed councillor choose their colleagues
Resident says he doesn’t believe council was picked legally; GN says Elections Act was followed
Resolute Bay Mayor Aziz Kheraj says he and his hamlet’s lone acclaimed councillor acted as per direction from Elections Nunavut to fill seven empty council seats. (Photo by Livete Ataguyuk)
Can one elected mayor and one acclaimed council member form a quorum and appoint the rest of council?
That’s what Resolute Bay Mayor Aziz Kheraj and Coun. Jazlin Salluviniq did, after Salluviniq was the only candidate to run for a seat on the eight-member council and was acclaimed in the Oct. 23 municipal election.
Tabitha Mullin, Susan Salluviniq, Chelsea Britton, Tagga Manik, Acelene Jules, Regalie Attagootak and Lori Nungaq now form the rest of council after Kheraj and Jazlin Salluviniq held a call-out to fill the empty seats.
The call-out was posted in the store, post office and on Facebook right after the election, Kheraj said. It included a deadline. Then the duo held a meeting and picked the first seven people — out of eight total — who had put their names forward.
“Five days later, we had our first council meeting,” said Kheraj.
It’s a process that raised an eyebrow for former councillor Wayne Davidson. He wants to know how one councillor and one mayor can form a quorum on council.
Under the Nunavut Hamlet Act, Davidson said, a majority of the total number of council members who form council comprise a quorum. Only once a quorum is met can they meet and make decisions.
For Resolute Bay, he said, that number would be five.
“I don’t think it’s legal,” Davidson told Nunatsiaq News in an interview about how his hamlet’s council was formed.
The answer seems to lie in the Nunavut Elections Act, which came into effect in 2019.
Under the Nunavut Elections Act, as long as one person puts their name forward “no election shall be held” after that and the candidate is acclaimed.
The act then gives direction to the leaders on how to fill the remaining vacancies. Specifically, it directs “council” to fill councillor vacancies by appointment.
This is the rub for Davidson: What is a council, under the Elections Act? Can it be just two people?
The act itself does not define what a council is, nor does it concern itself with the concept of quorum. It does operate under a number of defining principles, though.
It says elections should be run as effectively and efficiently as possible and that the rules should incorporate “flexibility to address unique circumstances in Nunavut as they arise.”
This seems to be the message from the Department of Community and Government Services. In an email to Nunatsiaq News, a government spokesperson said the Hamlets Act is in fact not clear on what constitutes a quorum.
In fact, the act does have two definitions for quorum — one that follows Davidson’s understanding and another, for emergency meetings, that says quorum is formed by whoever is present.
“There is nothing that would indicate that the process followed by the sitting officials was inappropriate or unlawful,” states the email.
“It is important that the territorial government support local governments in their autonomy to make decisions for the community. Having a council in place is necessary to ensure municipalities are compliant with the requirements of the Hamlets Act, can maintain operations and provide necessary services to their residents.”
For Kheraj’s part, he said he and his fellow acclaimed colleague filled the empty seats on council with direction from Elections Nunavut.
“This was one way of getting it done,” Kheraj said in an interview while attending the Nunavut Association of Municipalities annual general meeting in Iqaluit this week.
“The hamlet had not had a meeting in six months due to lack of councillors. So this was the best decision to proceed in getting a full council and today, a month later, the hamlet [council] has met twice already.”
Nunatsiaq News reached out to Elections Nunavut to ask what direction it gave to Resolute Bay’s leadership but did not receive a response.
If Davidson was so concerned about the process why didn’t he submit his name and run in the municipal election the first time around?
When there was a call for notice requesting names why didn’t he submit his name for consideration the second time?
Davidson had two chances to put his name down for council so that he has a voice. Due process was followed. Move on municipal business must carry on.
It is perfectly acceptable to be concerned about something and not run for office. You don’t need to run for MLA to question the NU Government, you don’t need to be on council to question their intentions. Everyone would need to be silent following your logic.
Ozzie has been the backbone of Resolute Bay for years. Always there to help when you’re in need, but there have always been people in the community that have been against Ozzie since he arrived. Must be easy to stand in the corner and criticize others for their efforts; Put up or shut up!
I’ve been fortunate to visit a few times for work and I can tell you if it wasn’t for this man Resolute Bay would be significantly worse off. That fact he wants to run for Mayor in this mess shows how much he cares about the community. He is financially comfortable and should want to relax in his age, yet he decides to run as Mayor. Good on you sir.
Has Davidson said how he would have solved the impasse? Easy to criticize without suggesting an alternative solution.
It is I Wayne Davidson, not a fake name. So I reply to the only person who commented with true name (I hope) Most other comments as of Dec 5, read as if they live in an alternate Universe.
Mr Harper
There is no impasse, follow the law. This election had no extension for the nomination period. The process failed. From recent Election Nunavut and latest CGS correspondence, the just of the matter goes as follows: Election Nunavut jurisdiction was over once election was approved , even though no nomination extension period was issued, a fatal legal error . After election approval, the responsibility of proper governance transfers to the Hamlet Act, which unlike Nunavut Election Act, defines a Quorum.
As you know only a Council Quorum can make appointments, not the mayor? Right? …… However, as far as I know, there is no legal standing for the mayor and 1 councillor to pick and chose their colleagues.
Because the election process failed, the election need be de-certified, a new election is required, in this small Resolute community, not hard to do,. But for some, it is convenient to follow some rules only when it suits their goals.
Nice reading from you directly for the second time………..
Wayne
All municipalities In Nunavut. Should be so lucky. To Have a mayor like Ozzie.
To the comments made about mayor in Resolute sorry the elect is not working and in conflict of interest with Weber Arctic and most votes he got from southerners that come up to work for 4-6 weeks on and go home
So who are you I’m from Resolute and is my name Mark and on the voting list are you. Do you know anything about my town and where we go fish
Two people – a mayor and a councilor were duly elected. If the elected body is 2 persons, how can their quorum be more than 2 persons? It cannot. This is common sense.
I went to vote and my name was not on the voters list they were using a outdated list of people for a current election