Three compete for Nanulik seat

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

Three men — one from Coral Harbour and two from Chesterfield Inlet — will run as candidates in a Sept. 2 by-election to fill the legislative assembly seat vacated by James Arvaluk after he was convicted of assault in June.

Patterk Netser of Coral Harbour will compete for the Nanulik seat against George Tanuyak and Francis Mazhero of Chesterfield Inlet. Nominations closed Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Netser, an unemployed mechanic, is a former chair of Coral Harbour’s district education authority. He said fellow Sallirmiut urged him to run.

“I was once asked by an elderly lady to run for the local housing authority council and I declined her request. And when I declined her, I felt I let her down, so I said to myself, the next time people ask me, I would enter my name,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

If elected, he said he would fight for the homeowners in his community.

“The homeowners, we’re getting more and more of them as the years roll on, they’re the ones that are getting neglected,” he said.

George Tanuyak decided only last Friday to enter his name as a candidate. He is a retired employee of the Government of the Northwest Territories and former mayor and hamlet councillor in Chesterfield Inlet.

He said he would fight the claw-back of hamlet budgets, and persuade the government to build a breakwater in his community.

In addition, he said he would represent Kivalliq residents in securing reliable transportation for medical patients between the Winnipeg airport, hospital and medical boarding home.

“It’s a preventative measure,” he said in Inuktitut. “For us older people with little or no English at all, they’re lost. There’s already been a case where a young person got lost — a young person in his late teens!”

However, he said he’s concerned that the new Nanulik MLA will sit for less than five months before the legislature is dissolved. A general election is scheduled for Feb. 16.

“There’s very little time to deal with these. There’s many other little issues, but there’s only five months left,” he said.

Francis Mazhero was a teacher at Victor Sammurtok School in Chesterfield Inlet until May 2002, when he was fired amid false allegations that he abused a 14-year-old girl.

He is suing the Government of Nunavut and the Nunavut Federation of Teachers for $2.6 million, claiming, among other things, that the principal of the school pursued the allegations even after they were proven to be false.

However, he said the matter, which is still before the courts, should show people that he is not afraid to take on tough opponents.

“What happened to me has in itself been a motivating factor. I think it’s very important to show people what the law really stands for. It is my position to support the little man,” he said.

“In some respects, I think it could be a bit of a nightmare for some people if I ran. Their worst nightmare.”

In addition, Mazhero said he identifies with the struggle of Inuit culture over Qallunaat culture.

“I think that I do have a subconscious affiliation with the local people. I was born in southern Africa. Zimbabwe was a settler colony,” he said.

“People came over from England, from Europe to become part of that society. And they came and they took. That is what a settler colony is about. Canada is exactly the same, especially when you come to the North.”

He has never competed in an election before, but is running on a platform of strengthening Nunavut’s education system by devoting attention to special needs and teacher assistant training.

One thing is for sure, the three candidates are determined not to repeat Arvaluk’s mistakes.

“Let’s face it, he had an alcohol problem,” Netser said. “We need to have people that are responsible. He’s a very smart man, but it’s unfortunate that he has a serious drinking problem and he needs help.