Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Mar 08/99) - From John Amagoalik's executive assistant in the 1980s to the current deputy chief returning officer in Nunavut, Joshie Teemotee Mitsima has seen just about all there is to see when forming and electing a new government.

And while the election itself fades into history, Mitsima's work in putting the election to bed has only just begun.

News/North: How do you feel now that the big, historic Nunavut election has wrapped up?

Joshie Teemotee Mitsima: I feel very tired and I'm happy that it went quite well considering that there were a lot of new forms for the returning officers. Overall, the election went quite well. There was such a big turn-out.

N/N: Were you happy with the 88 per cent turn-out?

Mitsima: Yes. I thought it would be somewhere up around there.

N/N: You weren't surprised?

Mitsima: No, I wasn't. I think we received great publicity from the newspapers and radio and the fact that we had 71 candidates helped a great deal.

A lot of it also had to do with people wanting to assert their rights in this election. They had waited so long for Nunavut and people didn't want to miss out on voting.

N/N: What's left to do in terms of the election itself?

Mitsima: The election is not over by a long shot. Even though we've counted the ballots, we still have to get the writs to Yellowknife. Hopefully that will happen in the next two weeks, then the election is complete.

We're getting all the materials in from the communities and candidates will have to make sure they submit their returns and declarations (their election contributions and expenses and receipt book).

N/N: What do you have left to do as the deputy?

Mitsima: The next step is to have a debriefing session with all the returning officers in Yellowknife later this month. We'll go over the election and see what worked and what did not work so well.

There are some complaints we're investigating. In Coral Harbour, we're investigating a complaint where a petition was forwarded with 50 names that the official agent for James Arvaluk had gone

on the air the day of the election. The complaint was that Noel Kaludjak's driver had been telling people on the way to the polling station that James Arvaluk was drunk. The agent got quite angry and his reaction was to go right to the radio station and go on the air. We're investigating to see if that really happened.

We're probably looking at May by the time we have everything put away.

N/N: Off the top of your head, can you come up with a few suggestions of what did or did not work well?

Mitsima: What worked well were the mail-outs we did, the advertisements and getting the materials out to all the returning officers well beforehand.

What didn't work is hard to say. There were some forms that could be streamlined. They worked, but were difficult to work with and there were a lot of inconveniences to returning officers, candidates and voters. As in any election, there are always minor details that pop up. It's mainly paperwork.

There were minor things like bad weather in the Keewatin that caused the problem in Whale Cove, but we were ready to deal with faxing nomination papers. Grise Fiord went through the same problem. There was some confusion with the proxy certificate. Some people found it difficult to put in an application and to get the certificate back and to have to submit that as well.

N/N: Will what worked and didn't work be taken into consideration in the Western Arctic's election?

Mitsima: I don't know, I can't speak for the west, but I imagine they'll conduct their election almost exactly the way as we conducted ours.

N/N: When you look back on the last year that you've been in this position, is there one event that stands out as more of a nightmare than anything else?

Mitsima: I would have to say travelling up to Resolute Bay during the revision period and being away from the office and having all these minor emergencies pop up. That was very difficult, but I was required to go up.

It wasn't very good for my family life either. It's demanded a great deal from me and a lot of sacrifice, but I'm happy now that the MLAs are elected and nothing major went wrong.

N/N: Would you do it all again?

Mitsima: Oh yeah. I really enjoyed doing it. It was very challenging to have to deal with my chief who was in Yellowknife -- the distance, the time, the language. The fact that there were so many changes in the election also made it difficult.

N/N: How much longer does this job of deputy chief last for you?

Mitsima: It goes as long as the Assembly wishes. The chief electoral officer's position and the deputy chief are full-time positions.

N/N: What were you doing before you became the deputy?

Mitsima: Wandering aimlessly on the tundra. I was. I was hunting.

But I had been doing a lot of elections. A year ago I was doing the (Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.) election. Before that, I was doing the (Qikiqtani Inuit Association) elections and before that, it was the municipal elections. I'd done quite a few in that short period of time.

I found out from Elections NWT that they were looking for someone to work on the Nunavut election. I submitted my resume about a year ago to let them know I was interested. Then the position came open and I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to try and change elections in Nunavut. I was also the project manager at Qikiqtaaluk Corporation, worked with the Nunavut Construction Corporation and I also worked previously as a journalist and as an assistant editor and a bit of weekend radio. When they looked at all that, I had all the basic components of what would be required in my position.

N/N: Were there any days over the last year when you wanted to give it all up and go back to wandering aimlessly over the tundra?

Mitsima: Coming back from Resolute Bay I did for a while, but then I thought I'd given up so much, I might as well see it through. I'd worked so hard and it was something I really believed in.

N/N: What did you have to give up?

Mitsima: Part of it was my family life. It had an impact on my relationship with my common-law and that didn't go very well. Having to travel quite a bit, it was difficult to be away from my son.

It was very stressful and very difficult to deal with.

N/N: How did you blow off steam when it was like that?

Mitsima: I had a great deal of support from my chief electoral officer. He was very understanding. We broke Nunavut down into regions and they handled some returning officers and I handled some so that took away from some of the stress.

I went out hunting once.

N/N: What were you hunting for?

Mitsima: Caribou. I found that to be very relaxing and just what I needed.

N/N: Have you done a lot of hunting in your life?

Mitsima: I wouldn't say very much compared to other hunters. I'm more like the weekend hunter type. I only go hunting when I need the meat, the food.

N/N: Will you treat yourself to some sort of holiday at that point?

Mitsima: Yes, I haven't had a holiday all year. I'm thinking of taking one, I could use one. Maybe get my voice back.