Yellowknife (Oct 31/03) - Premier Stephen Kakfwi is calling for the resignation of Todd Burlingame, chair of the Mackenzie Valley Environment Impact Review Board.

"As a chairman he's finished," Kakfwi said Wednesday in an interview. Burlingame was the subject of a non-confidence vote by four dissident board members two weeks ago.

"The damage to him is final," Kakfwi said. "Public confidence in him as chair has been shattered. Nothing will fix that."

Kakfwi was also critical of how Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Robert Nault dealt with dissent on the board.

Nault dismissed Gordon Wray, a former Territories MLA and Hay River businessman, who had just been reappointed to a second three-year term on the board.

Kakfwi defended Wray as "a respected member of the Northern community and a fighter for Northern and aboriginal issues who has been punished for what he believed in.

"Politicians need to stay away from boards and the way they do business so they have credibility to do their job," Kakfwi said.

Nault's intrusion into the affairs of the board "illustrates more clearly than ever before why every person in the NWT supports devolution," Kakfwi said.

"We can't allow distant ministers like Robert Nault to make decisions about our projects and our resources," Kakfwi said.

"It's absurd, it's something I abhor, there is no dignity in it," the NWT's premier said.