Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Feb 04/02) - Nunavut Tunngavik President Cathy Towtongie sits in her new office in Iqaluit preparing to give her first interview from the expensively decorated surroundings.

Nunavut Tunngavik President Cathy Towtongie says that under her leadership, the organization will become more economically practical. - Kerry McCluskey/NNSL photo

The former Rankin Inlet resident proceeds to talk about helping beneficiaries with their social, cultural and economic well-being. But around her is evidence of questionable spending habits of her predecessors.

While certain luxuries are to be permitted -- expected even -- one wonders if it's necessary for the president's office to be lavishly decorated with thousands of dollars worth of sculptures.

Amid a massive lack of territorial infrastructure and extreme poverty, the question of how much the office desk and board table cost the land claims organization and ultimately, the beneficiaries is impossible to avoid.

"$12,000," answered Towtongie, when questioned about the price tag on the board table. Her desk, also ordered under the presidency of Paul Quassa, likely rings in at a similar price.

Towtongie says she won't spend that kind of money on those kind of items during the two years of her term as president. A business owner herself, she says she wasn't around when decisions were made to order such expensive furnishings.

"I don't know the thought process or the justification, just like a lot of other beneficiaries," says Towtongie.

"I'm a taxpayer and we have to be economically feasible. Having operated businesses, I want to operate in a more economical fashion."

Towtongie also admits to surprise at the size of the house she's been given to live in during her reign. The five-bedroom unit was leased to accommodate past president Quassa's large family. That lease has not yet expired.

"I was almost overwhelmed," says Towtongie. "I felt silence. I felt compassion for the Inuit families I was billeted with when I was campaigning. They gave me their only room sometimes ... I wanted to hide. That was my initial feeling," she says.

Towtongie commends the board and NTI's employees for continuing to operate following Quassa's credit-card difficulties and eventual resignation.

She says her priority now was to communicate with the beneficiaries she was elected to serve. That includes, she says, telling beneficiaries how NTI will strive to improve the economic outlook of all Inuit. It also includes lending support to the territorial government in their quest to build more housing in Nunavut.

"I want to communicate to the person on the street where NTI is heading and what we're going to do in the future," says Towtongie.

In Iqaluit, $12,000 can buy:

- One NTI president's board table

- 3,007 loaves of bread @ $3.99 per loaf -- equivalent to about 58 loaves of bread each week for a year

- 2,003 two-litre cartons of milk at $5.99 per carton

- 571 boxes of .223 bullets at $21 per box

- 129 litres of gasoline at 92.9 cents a litre

- 23,200 Pampers

- 2,404 boxes of tea at $4.99 per box

- 40 pairs of kamiks at $300 each

- 400 textbooks for children at $30 per textbook