Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Oct 29/99) - The Inuvialuit Communications Society says it is not facing a crisis after the recent resignation of its board president and executive director.

In an unsigned statement issued Tuesday, the ICS said any management crisis was 'reported prematurely' by the Inuvik Drum.

ICS has implemented a strategic plan to address the issues that surround the society, the statement read.

The statement quoted Steve Cockney as saying the board of directors felt it was in the best interests of the society to accept the resignations of Frank Hansen and Darlene Cave immediately. There will be a slight interruption in regards to the finance officer position, the statement read, but [we] are confident we will be bringing one on stream shortly.

Board member Cockney was named interim president following Hansen's resignation, and the statement said he'll remain in that position until January.

When reached at ICS offices, Cockney said he couldn't provide any more details on the resignations. An ICS staffer who asked not to be identified, said Debbie Gordon-Ruben had been named acting executive director, but was out of town.

The statement also said that a report that representatives from the federal government's Canadian Heritage, the society's primary funder, were looking into the matter, was not accurate.

Canadian Heritage in Yellowknife referred the matter to their head office in Hull, Que., where a message went unreturned by press time.

The statement ended with a quote attributed to Cockney stating: "The board believes that we have solved our present situation and we feel very confident that the society will continue to meet its obligation to our funders and to our network (APTN)."