Rankin Inlet (May 05/03) - The North West Company (NWC) is making a strong bid to regain its status under Nunavut's Northern and Inuit (NNI) preference policy.

The NNI policy is designed to give an edge to Inuit owned businesses when bidding on government contracts.

Vice-president Len Flett said a new proposal to regain the company's NNI status has been sent to the GN and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI).

He said as a publicly traded company, it's impossible for The North West Company to reach NNI status as it now stands.

"Our status is now no different than any other Southern-based retailer," said Flett.

"How many Inuit do Wal-Mart or Sears employ?

"Any Southern-based retailer -- how much capital have they invested in the future of Nunavut?"

The new NWC proposal calls for the establishment of a best practice management-training centre in Baker Lake and the implementation of a Healthy Living initiative.

It also promises the implementation of Inuit workforce employment benchmarks, and a new local Inuit-Nunavut business procurement strategy to expand NWC economic spinoffs at the local level.

The Nunavut government and NTI are waiting to discuss the proposal with the NWC at a meeting to be held in Iqaluit later this month before commenting.