Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 16, 2008

IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY - Cambridge Bay MLA Keith Peterson is calling on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) not to cut its services to the Kitikmeot region.

In a letter to chair Thomas Casgrain last week, he said residents were concerned to see the Cambridge Bay facility being dismantled, and its satellite dishes removed.

"CBC is the national broadcaster, and I wanted to remind them of that," Peterson said. "They have a mandate to provide service across Canada in every jurisdiction, and recognize the special needs of these regions."

The crown corporation has bureaus located in Rankin Inlet, Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit. The Cambridge Bay office, which opened in 1998, has been vacant since its previous reporter left in March.

"We're sitting on the western edge of Nunavut, which is quite a distance from Iqaluit, and many of our issues and voices are not being heard," Peterson said.

"I have noticed a deterioration of service over the years," he added, pointing to the past removal of trainee and television reporter positions.

Nattilik MLA Leona Aglukkaq echoed Peterson's words in a letter sent the following day

Although the station is moving, it is not leaving the community, according to senior communications officer Sue Glowach.

"We're going to continue to have a presence," she said.

Glowach said CBC has been "aggressively recruiting" a new reporter for the position, and is looking for a two to three bedroom house in which to co-locate an office and living quarters.

Someone had been offered the position but turned it down, she said. In the interim, the Kitikmeot will be covered by the Eastern Arctic bureau, located in Iqaluit.