Quassa finally meets Yellowknife Inuit
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 17/01) - Inuit living in Yellowknife are not forgotten, stresses Paul Quassa.
After three attempts, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. president Paul Quassa finally met with Yellowknife Inuit Monday night at the Kitikmeot Boarding Home. With him were other NTI executives. NTI is responsible for implementing the Inuit obligations of the Nunavut land claim. To a packed room, Quassa apologized for not being able to meet with beneficiaries earlier.
"As NTI we have a responsibility to make sure all beneficiaries are benefiting.
"We want to make sure beneficiaries are well-informed," he told about 100 Inuit.
Quassa also said NTI is looking into providing direct monetary benefits to all beneficiaries.
There are about 150 Inuit living in Yellowknife. According to census figures, 550 Inuit lived in Yellowknife in 1996. But that figure was before division.
According to NTI about 1,000 Inuit live outside Nunavut.
Jeannie Evalik, who works as the Kitikmeot Boarding Home but is from Cambridge Bay, said she is "starting to feel like an outcast" after just a few months of living in Yellowknife.
"We need an office here, somewhere we can bring in our concerns," she said.
Quassa said NTI will be hiring community liaison officers for all Nunavut communities and perhaps "we can look at other areas" where Inuit reside outside Nunavut.
"I chose to live in Yellowknife to find a job," Alissa Palongayak said.
Palongayak adds when she tries to find work in Nunavut she is out of luck because she does not live there. NTI want to hear about things like this so it can go to the Nunavut Government and "intervene," Quassa said. Quassa adds the Nunavut Government is obligated to employ Inuit.
"They are supposed to have a representative level of Inuit employment.
"They are not living up to that obligation as well as we expected," he said. Quassa said there is only 44 per cent Inuit employment within the Nunavut Government.
Quassa also said NTI plans to visit other centres where there is Inuit population.
One Inuit woman at Monday's meeting reminded Quassa that: "Next time you come to town, don't underestimate the interest of the Inuit of Yellowknife."
