James Hrynyshyn
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 11/98) - The advent of a new territorial government isn't exactly exciting the people of Kimmirut. If anything, says Mayor Mickey Akavak, division has cast a cloud over the community.

"We've got zero jobs coming to us," says Akavak, a 31-year-old electrician and carver who was elected in last November's vote.

At the same time, he adds, the carving market, on which many of the community's residents once relied to supplement their social services incomes, "has taken a dive and we're feeling the crunch."

The carving market, a victim of its own aggressive marketing and a flood of products, will probably recover, Akavak says. But there is little to be done about the plans for a decentralized Nunavut government.

Those plans hold nothing for Kimmirut, which is only 150 kilometres from Iqaluit -- less than four hours away by snowmachine -- and so forced to live in the capital's shadow. More distant centres, such as Cambridge Bay and Arviat, are expected to attract the lion's share of decentralized jobs.

Even the recreational side of life has been ignored by Iqaluit and Yellowknife, Akavak says, pointing out that Kimmirut's senior men's hockey team -- like all the others in town -- must play on an outdoor rink. The community has lobbied for money for an indoor facility, but so far, the response has been only silence.

Whatever hope there is for the community's economy, it doesn't lie with government, Akavak predicts."If there's no public sector jobs, we will have to look at the private sector." The one possibility that holding promise is a marble quarry, which could be developed in anticipation of a revitalized carving market. "Last year they blasted a hill and it's only a half mile out of town, right on the municipal limits," says Akavak.

Rubicon Minerals, a Vancouver mining firm, is looking for nickel, but any mine is years away, he adds.