Yellowknife (Sep 29/06) - Comments Premier Joe Handley made last week about a sensational sex abuse case have raised the ire of his legislative colleagues and put the premier in a pickle.

Regular MLAs sought to 'distance' themselves from an article in which Handley suggested some of the alleged sexual encounters between former teacher and convicted pedophile Edward Horne and students may have been consensual.

When Premier Handley was asked if he made the controversial comments, he told Yellowknifer his words were "taken out of context." -

The NWT and Nunavut governments have been named in a civil suit filed by 72 men and one woman who claim Horne sexually abused them in Nunavut communities between 1971 and 1985.

"The issue of sexual abuse in institutions and by persons who held positions of trust in relation to aboriginal people is one that has had devastating ramifications in the North," reads a press release signed by 10 regular MLAs and released Wednesday. "As such, the premier should not have made any statements that could be interpreted, to dismiss or discredit the claims of alleged victims."

The only MLA not to sign was Range Lake's Sandy Lee. She is away from Yellowknife and unavailable for comment.

In a Sept. 21 Canadian Press story - which ran in several major Canadian newspapers - Handley said the decades-old alleged sexual abuse happened outside school and may not be the responsibility of the government.

"We don't know who goes to the teacher's house, if they're not school students, if they're adults, if they're people out of school... It's hard to figure out how we should admit that, 'Yeah, we should've done something," CP reporter Bob Weber quoted Handley as saying.

Handley also waded into the issue of adulthood with respect to the case.

"(A) 14-year-old, you're certainly dealing with someone who has not matured and may not understand what he's getting himself into. In the case of a 17-year-old, who's been operating as an adult - he's been hunting, he's been earning his own livelihood - (it) is a much different situation," Handley was quoted as saying.

When Handley was asked if he made the controversial comments, the premier told Yellowknifer his words were "taken out of context."

"I don't really want to say any more on that. I just didn't like the slant and the tone (of the story) so I'd prefer to leave it as it is. It is a matter before the courts," said the premier.

"My comments weren't about the specific case and were taken out of context."

Weber said he quoted the premier "carefully and accurately" and has spoken to Handley on the matter, but would not elaborate on their conversation.

"I won't tell you what was said but he has not asked for any kind of retraction, correction or clarification on the story," said Weber.

Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay spoke out against the premier's comments.

"There's some quotes in there, whether they were out of context or not, (that) were completely inappropriate and some very inflammatory," said Ramsay. "This is a very sensitive issue in the NWT and the premier shouldn't have been commenting on it at all. He's got a legal team inside the department of justice. They've got a number of lawyers, that's where the questions should've been directed."

In 2002, the NWT government and Nunavut agreed to an out-of-court $21.5 million settlement filed by a group of 82 men who made the same claim Horne had sexually abused them.