Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Sep 27/99) - It's just a matter of days before women in Nunavut have a culturally appropriate organization to represent and lobby for their needs.

That's according to Donald Havioyak, the minister responsible for the Status of Women Council.

"I have to make sure that all women's issues are addressed and dealt with by all different levels of government and especially the Government of Nunavut," said Havioyak, also the MLA for Kugluktuk.

He explained that since the legislature last sat in May, he and Geela Giroux, his senior advisor on women's issues, have been reviewing the NWT Status of Women Council policy that was rolled over to Nunavut following division. He said that they'd had to study it carefully and streamline it to make it viable for women and their families in the new territory.

"There were things that we can't use in Nunavut and we have to make sure the needs of our residents are met and that it's appropriate."

Havioyak said the review and the appointment of an interim council, to be made up of women who attended the Nunavut Women's Conference in Rankin Inlet last March, would be completed by Oct.20, the date the legislative assembly is due to convene. Cabinet will have given their approval of the council by that time and Havioyak said it would then be up to the interim body to set their own priorities and to establish a permanent council based on Nunavut residents' input.

While the minister will oversee the council and preside over the portfolio, Giroux will act as a liaison between the government and the territory's women's groups. She will also play a lead role in providing direction for the interim and permanent boards.

It is expected that the council will be an Inuktitut-speaking body that lobbies for better victims' services, better education on issues of violence, more input from elders and youth, more parental training programs and increased healing programs that incorporate the men in women's lives.