Northern News Services

IQALUIT (July 26/99) - Last year it was referred to by one joker as a "legislative assembly in a box" because of its arrival in boxes on the sealift, like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

The puzzle is now in the final stages of completion and each day the Nunavut legislative assembly is appearing more than the total of its parts.

The official opening of the legislative assembly is set for just before the Oct. 20 start of the next session.

"It's either going to be on the same day, the day before or the week before," said clerk of the assembly John Quirke. "We're looking at treating them as two separate events, maybe back-to-back, but we're still working on the details with the Speaker."

Still to be completed are modifications to the second floor to accommodate a larger cabinet and support staff than was anticipated in the design of the building, installation of the sound system and cameras to record the sessions and the installation of the telephone system.

The modifications to the office space are scheduled to be completed by Aug. 15, said Quirke. He and his staff are anticipating moving into the building during the last week of August.

"That's all tied into the successful installation of the telephone cabelling and telephone systems," said Quirke. NorthwesTel is slated to have that cabelling done by the end of this week.

The contract for the installation and supply of the audio-visual system was awarded to a joint venture of Nunavut Tusaavut, Inuit Communication Systems Ltd. and Applied Electronics of Toronto.

"They're scheduled to commence work on Aug. 15, with the chamber to be given top priority," said Quirke.

Once completed, the building will be home to the offices of the cabinet, ordinary MLAs, the Speaker and clerk and support staff. It will also include a library.

The main chore last week was moving furniture which has been in storage since its arrival last year from packing crates to the offices. (The wooden packing crates are reportedly in great demand by people wanting to reuse them as snowmobile shelters).

In all, 140 tonnes were shipped up last year for the construction and finishing of the building. Nothing, apart from minor supplies required for the second floor changes, is slated to come up this year said Quirke.

The centrepiece of the building is the assembly chamber. Similar to the NWT chamber, the seating arrangement for MLAs is circular with cabinet filling one half and MLAs the other.

In the centre will be a komatik and traditional Inuit hunting implements. The newly-created mace will be placed in front of the clerk's table.

A unique feature of the Nunavut chamber will be the reserved seating for elders. Twelve chairs for elders will be placed between a row of public seating and the members.