Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Aug 30/99) - Charlie Crow has high hopes for the Nunavut Council of People with Disabilities -- especially since the government came up with $90,000 to help them get off the ground.

"They should be able to go in the right direction," said Crow, a former municipal politician and MLA from Sanikiluaq who was blinded by glaucoma in 1957.

He explained that the money, which comes from the Government of Nunavut's Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, will give the nine-member yearling council the opportunity to actually open their own office and begin to actively lobby to establish a working and productive organization. The eventual goal he said, was for the council to access information about the new methods of technology available to assist people living with disabilities in Nunavut. Crow said, however, that the council must act now and act fast in order to begin to adequately represent those residents and to be on par with similar organizations.

"The only way for us to catch up with disability councils in the rest of Canada, the States, North America, is to have our own council to speak for Inuit disabled people. We have to catch up on what's available," said Crow.

"With our own council, we can make contact with the rest of the disabled people and learn how they operate and get funding."

Council advocate Meeka Kilabuk has agreed to work with the council to help them raise funds and to get set up. She said she also intended to work hard on improving the way Nunavut society treats people with disabilities while establishing programs to upgrade their economic outlook by lobbying the government and the private sector to provide more training opportunities.

"They definitely need a voice because I've seen a lot of frustrations from people with disabilities trying to get somewhere and they're treated (like they're) worthless," said Kilabuk.

"We need the economic community to focus to include people with disabilities. We cannot focus on who is the mightiest or the strongest. One of the biggest problems is there is nothing to do."

Kilabuk estimated there are currently more than 100 people in Nunavut living with disabilities.