Baffin council taking non-adversarial approach, but not ruling out the courts
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
IQALUIT (July 19/99) - The Baffin Divisional Education Council is trying to salvage what it can of an $1 million partnership with the Kakivak Association.
"We just want to say, 'Let's just look at this and rather than make this adversarial and confrontational, let's just talk about what we believe in and start there,'" said council executive director Lorne Levy.
The association announced two weeks ago it was withdrawing from the partnership. The education council had a four-hour teleconference meeting Friday to discuss the issue.
The approach the council decided on Friday contrasts with a tersely-worded news release it issued following the announcement that Kakivak was not going to follow through with its $1-million commitment to the program.
In that statement the council said it "does not agree with statements recently made that deny a legally binding agreement was and continues to be in place, and the Baffin Divisional Education Council is now considering various options that include legal recourse."
The money was to be used to hire 17 elders, 10 additional classroom support assistants and two regional student support consultants.
To be split across the 22 schools in the Baffin, the 17 elders were to act as a go-between with the consultants and the community to ensure traditional and cultural components are present in education.
The arrangement was the product of consultations between the council and Kakivak chief executive officer Pat Angnakak. Angnakak is no longer with Kakivak.
The announcement of Kakivak's withdrawal from the arrangement was made by Jerry Ell July 8. Ell is president of Qikiqtaaluk Corporation, which controls Kakivak.
Though the council is going to start with a diplomatic approach, it is not ruling out legal action.
Levy said that was one of the subjects of Friday's teleconference call, and the council still believes it has a legally-binding agreement with Kakivak.
The council will try to arrange a meeting with Kakivak as sometime next week, said Levy.
