Retraction and apology

On page one of its Jan. 11, 2001 edition, Nunatsiaq News published an article headlined “QC boss quits over Baffin hospital deal,” which contains untrue and defamatory statements concerning the Nunavut Construction Corporation and the Qikiqtaaluk Corporation.

The purpose of the article was to explain the departure of Abraham Tagalik from the President’s position at Qikiqtaaluk Corporation. The article was based on an interview with Abraham Tagalik.

The article reports certain statements attributed to Abraham Tagalik that explain his thinking as to why he did not give a contract to NCC to manage the construction of a replacement hospital in Iqaluit for the Baffin region. These statements are defamatory of NCC. This newspaper has no reason to believe that NCC is not a cost-effective and competitive company that does a good job for its clients.

We apologize unreservedly to the Nunavut Construction Corporation and its officers for all untrue and defamatory statements published in the article.

In addition, the article quoted Mr.Tagalik as making references to the circumstances under which the Qikiqtaaluk Corporation enters into agreements with NCC and former employees were terminated by QC. Jerry Ell and Vincent Buron both resigned and were not terminated by the corporation. The newspaper retracts any suggestion that QC has acted improperly in any of its contracting with NCC or in in dealing with its employees.

We apologize unreservedly to the Qikiqtaaluk Corporation and its officers for all untrue and defamatory statements published in the article.