by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 04/97) - The panel set up to recommend electoral boundaries for Nunavut has gone against an aboriginal leaders' agreement, and instead proposed a 17-member assembly.

The suggestion, outlined in the newly-released report of the Nunavut Electoral Boundaries Commission, is less than the 20- or 22-member assembly mandated by the GNWT, Department of Indian and Affairs and Northern Development and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.

The commission submitted its report to the speaker of the NWT legislative assembly July 18.

The commission, made up of NWT Supreme Court Justice Ted Richard, former MLA Titus Allooloo and Keewatin Divisional Board of Education member Sandy Kusugak, was appointed March 7 by the commissioner of the NWT.

It's mandate was passed by the legislative assembly, which supported 20 or 22 single-member ridings and 10 or 11 dual-member ridings.

Though just one of three alternatives laid out in the report, the 17-member assembly is, in the opinion of the commission, the most suitable option for Nunavut's first assembly.

"We did not find a groundswell of support for the notion of dual-member constituencies in Nunavut," the report states.

One main reason for only 17 members, wrote the authors of the report, is the lack of public support for a costly 22-member assembly.

"Those who addressed the commission on this concern expressed the view that 20-22 MLAs was too rich and too expensive for a territory of 25,000 citizens," they say.

The 17-member assembly, referred to as "model C," would include eight districts for the Baffin region, and nine for the Keewatin and Kitikmeot combined.

Grouping communities with an average of 1,455 residents per riding, the 17-member model allots each mid-sized community its own representative and Iqaluit two members. The smaller communities would, for the most part, remain in one of the 10 Eastern Arctic districts now in effect in the NWT.

The new boundaries would mean a new district for Pelly Bay and Repulse Bay, known as Akulliq.

The only feature that, in the opinion of the authors, may appear to be a drawback, is the reduction of one seat each from Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet and the High Arctic.

The commission goes on to say, however, that "on balance, the electoral districts proposed in model C are justifiable and more appropriate in all of the circumstances (those circumstances include the approximate total size and cost of a legislature to represent 25,000 citizens," the report states.

To hear the views of the people, the commission travelled to all 28 Eastern Arctic communities in the spring.

While the 17-member assembly is the commission's recommendation, the federal cabinet has the final say when it comes to how the new assembly will look. The legislative assembly will also debate the report when it reconvenes in October.

The commission, does, however, recommend that if there are more than the proposed 17 members, three more should be assigned to Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, and/or the High Arctic.