Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Gjoa Haven (Apr 24/00) - A petition signed by 315 people, and submitted to the MLAs during the session earlier this month indicates exactly how frustrated the mayor of Gjoa Haven is.

Irritated by the continuous problems with his hamlet's water supply, Michael Angotittauruq Sr., in conjunction with community MLA Uriash Puqiqnak, submitted the petition along with a bottle of bloodworm- infested water.

Angotittauruq said because of what he saw as a lack of commitment from the GN in solving the problems that continue to plague the community's water supply, he had no choice but to take his actions one step further.

"We're trying to be as calm as possible, but people are upset about it. They truly are," said Angotittauruq.

"The town is speaking. They want to have something done about the water lake."

The situation, which has been gradually worsening for the last two decades, came to a head this winter when bloodworms appeared in the community's water supply.

Angotittauruq went public with the problem and, while it has been discussed by the territory's politicians, he said so far they had failed to come through with concrete or permanent solutions.

The mayor said he thought he had made headway last month after a positive meeting with Jack Anawak, the minister of Community Government and Transportation, but the absence of follow-up or a concrete commitment forced him to start a petition and send over a sample of the water.

"That makes me quite disappointed. It really does. If the interest was there, I presume the government would have stepped up and done everything," said Angotittauruq.

Instead, he said the GN implemented yet another temporary, Band-Aid solution -- designing and installing a screen to filter out the bloodworms -- rather than solving the problem by creating a whole new water system and water lake.

Angotittauruq became further perplexed earlier this month when the screen was lost during shipping from Edmonton. While it has apparently been located in Yellowknife, Angotittauruq said his frustration was mounting and his patience was running very thin. He is, however, willing to wait it out to see if the GN will come through before the end of the session.

Anawak said the GN had already made the commitment to address the problem properly.

"We want to make sure the screen gets put on, but that's a Band-Aid solution," he said.

"What we're looking for now, what we have done is put out an RFP, a request for proposals, to see how much it would cost to replace the water system. That's where we're at right now."

Anawak reaffirmed how important solving the matter was to the GN, adding it is a priority.

"It certainly is on our priority list because it's a health and safety matter, so for anything like that, we'd do as much as we can. We're looking for a permanent solution."