Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Panniqtuuq (Oct 28/02) - Panniqtuuq residents and businesses received a wave of visitors this week.

The sixth session of the legislative assembly reconvened in the community on Oct. 28.

Auyuittuq Lodge manager Donna Lee said there are no more accommodations left in Panniqtuuq. She's taken extra steps to prepare for the week.

"We've increased our food orders and our staffing as well," said Lee.

Many residents of the community were generous enough to open their homes to visitors to compensate for the shortages of accommodations.

Businesses like the hotel and the Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts and Crafts are glad to have the opportunity to make a little extra money.

"Hopefully, it will mean some good sales for us," said the centre's general manager Peter Wilson.

Tours of the centre's craft gallery, tapestry studio, and print shop are being made readily available.

Members of the legislative assembly will have a brand new agenda in the house. Finance Minister Kelvin Ng said a Human Rights Act for the territory will be discussed -- Nunavut is in the only jurisdiction in Canada without one. Members will also table a new Elections Act.

Ng said assembly members chose Panniqtuuq for the fall session through a vote.

"It was time to come back to the Baffin," said Ng.

The legislative assembly met in Rankin Inlet in February 2000 and in Cambridge Bay in May 2001. The legislative assembly is scheduled to close Friday, Nov. 1. The sixth session will pick up again in Iqaluit sometime in mid-November to stage a budget and address Bill 1 - the proposed new Education Act.