NNSL (Mar 25/98) - Rankin Inlet's mayor is looking to the Keewatin Pilot Project as a way to get more for the community than is prescribed in the plan for a decentralized Nunavut government.

John Hickes said during a five-hour hamlet council meeting last week that Footprints 2, the model used to create the emerging government, contains little for his community of 2,200.

"I've read Footprints 2 and it holds no great benefits for Rankin -- it's a demise for Rankin," he said.

"Whatever is in Footprints 2 is what you're going to get unless you grab and claw, and that's what community empowerment is all about ... taking control of your own destiny."

An initiative of the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, the Keewatin Pilot Project aims to transfer ownership, maintenance and operation of capital infrastructure from the GNWT to the Kivalliq hamlets by handing over the communities' block funding to cover the costs.

"We'll take away some of the candy politicians hand out pre-election -- that's OK, we'll take it in a lump sum," said Hickes.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Jose Kusugak, John Amagoalik of the Nunavut Implementation Commission, and Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell have all expressed concern over the project and have suggested that it be left until after division. Baker Lake is, however, the only community in the Keewatin that has said it won't support looking into the project.

Mayor David Tagoona said that the hamlet won't support the project and has refused to be involved in further discussion on the issue.

"We understand very clearly why we're not supporting it," he said. "It's going to damage our communities more than help them. And it's good to know we're not alone -- NTI is with us."

But Hickes said he can't ignore an option that might give the region more power over their own affairs than the proposed decentralized government is expected to bring.

His concern stems from the 80 to 100 jobs slated to move from Rankin Inlet to Arviat and Baker Lake after division.

"Rankin Inlet is one of those communities that will lose in Footprints 2," he said. "You see it everyday -- people moving to Iqaluit to take headquarters jobs."

Hickes admits there is a lot of misunderstanding about the project and has asked that a presentation be done by MACA to hamlet council about the new initiative.