Maria Canton
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Sep 27/99) - The Town of Iqaluit's decision not to enforce the hiring of bilingual emergency dispatchers puts Iqaluit one step closer to setting up a territory-wide emergency dispatch service.

But Coun. Lynda Gunn says what's the point of giving service across Nunavut when the dispatcher can only speak English.

"The majority of the populous in Nunavut speaks Inuktitut and the working language of the government is Inuktitut, we should provide the service in Inuktitut," said Gunn outside of council chambers last Tuesday.

"I think there were some procedural problems with the way the motion was handled."

Gunn is referring to a motion she put forward at the meeting for council to write letters to all of the communities in Nunavut asking them if they thought bilingual dispatchers were a necessity.

She says the intent of her motion was lost when fire Chief Neville Wheaton was invited to come forward and explain the plight of emergency services.

The idea was first proposed two weeks ago when Gunn suggested a town committee look into the $142,000 contract the town has with the RCMP to offer the service.

Wheaton, however, says efforts are constantly being made to hire bilingual dispatchers and in fact, last time they advertised in syllabics only.

He says many candidates are lost in the three-month security clearance process and many can find work that pays more than the town can offer.

"The fact is the job is stressful. It's shiftwork and we often lose people during the three-month waiting process," he said.

"If someone else was to get the contract besides the town, they would be no further ahead than we are now."

Because Gunn's motion wasn't successful, Iqaluit's emergency services can move ahead with plans to have all emergency calls and complaints from across the territory routed to Iqaluit, as opposed to Yellowknife.

"We want to be a multi-service dispatch agency," says Wheaton.

"We will only benefit from having all emergency calls go to one dispatch service. Our long-range intent is to develop a 911 centre."

Currently, four full-time dispatchers are employed by the town to fulfil their contract with the RCMP.