Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

HALL BEACH (Jun 16/99) - If Keewatin hamlets don't want to support the Inuit Cultural Institute (ICI), it may soon be calling Hall Beach home, says Norman Ford, ICI's executive director.

Ford says federal funding is still in limbo and hamlets only have until June 17th to show their support for the institute. ICI, itself, has until June 30 to file an audit report with the federal Department of Northern and Indian Affairs, which has funded ICI $155,000 annually in the past.

Two previous audits have shown ICI operating at a deficit of $79,000 and Ford said the Keewatin hamlets are not lending their support because of a letter from the federal departments's director of learning, employment and human resources, Bob Coulter.

"We're hoping when the audit is complete, more hamlets will throw in their support. We've trying to keep open by slowly selling off our assets, but we can't really see any future for ICI. There's no real support from the hamlets yet, so we're looking at the end somewhere.

"The only way we could possibly go on is if the Keewatin hamlets throw in their support by the 17th. We'd like to become an organization like IRC or the NCI in Baffin. We hope to get Keewatin communities to put ICI as the cultural centre for the Keewatin."

Coulter said there has been nothing sent from his department which would prohibit any hamlet from supporting ICI. He said his department sent ICI a letter expressing the desire to meet with the executive to try and find a solution to their financial problems, but never received a reply.

"We've sent out nothing that would in any way prohibit or hinder any hamlet from supporting the ICI," said Coulter. "I would be surprised if we even had the jurisdiction to do that. This is a decision for the hamlets to make on their own.

"We provide funds for specific purposes under the Contribution Agreement and they're required to report on how the funds are actually spent. We've got an interest in making sure the funds were spent for the purposes intended. We don't approve auditors, but we do expect any audit report sent to us to have been conducted by an accredited accounting firm."

Ford said he still doesn't agree with the results of the first two audits and hopes a third audit will show a lower operating deficit.

"We have to get another auditor to do it, an independent auditor," said Ford. "The same company did the first two and nothing's going change if they do it again. We still don't agree with the deficit they're listing.

"From all the hamlets we asked for support, we received one response from Hall Beach. If the Keewatin doesn't show its support for ICI, we may move there. They have been showing their support all along. If ICI goes down, but we're still operating with the support from Hall Beach, we could move there.

"As for the audit, we're submitting the one from the independent auditor who came in last week and Ottawa can either take it or leave it."