Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Apr 19/99) - The much-talked about police apology to the Inuit of the Eastern Arctic is on hold until more information can be gathered.

According to Const. Jimmy Akavak of Nunavut's community policing section, the apology that he said last month was forthcoming is now on hold until the consultation process can proceed further.

Being undertaken by Nunavut's top cop, C/Supt. Chris Bothe, the process includes visiting all of Nunavut's communities and hearing what residents have to say about the RCMP's past performance and how they would like them to police the territory in the future.

"He wants to find out what people think first," said Akavak.

"We expected to do it sooner, but we're still getting letters and notes from the communities about their concerns. We're going to gather more information and go from there," said Akavak.

The idea of the apology first arose during the community consultation visit that took place in Iqaluit in February.

More than 50 people from around the territory attended that meeting, many of whom were involved in occupations relating to justice or social issues. They felt that an apology would help residents heal from past incidents, like being relocated or having their sled dogs killed by police officers, and that such an attempt would pave the way for a healthier relationship between the people and the police.

"That was the first time people came forward and said this is what happened and that they wanted an explanation for it," said Cpl. Glen Siegersma, the media relations officer of Nunavut's V Division.

Siegersma explained that Bothe said he would research the incidents and then decide if an apology was the appropriate route to take.

"If an apology was required, then that might be part of the process of healing that we would look into. I don't know if it would be an RCMP apology to the people of Nunavut or a separate apology to a single person or what will happen," said Siegersma.

So far, 11 of Nunavut's 29 settlements have been consulted and it is expected that Bothe or other senior police members will visit the remaining communities by the end of the year.

Siegersma stressed that the end goal of the process was to build a path for residents and RCMP to take to make Nunavut a better place to live with more effective policing.

Also to that end, a group of 11 Inuit recruits has been selected to go through their training to become officers.

Heading out to Regina at the end of this month, Siegersma said that having people of similar backgrounds around during training would make it easier for the cadets to make it through the course.

"They'll have the support of people from a similar culture, which is what most of our members have when they go through. They're there with people of a like-mind and like-background and it helps them to build a team and finish the training."

If the venture is successful, Siegersma said similar all-Inuit troops would be formed in the future.