Kathleen Lippa
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Sep 01/03) - Gary Tautenhahn-Rasmunssen loves Nunavut. That's why whenever he talks about life here, his voice gets louder, and louder, and his opinions are always strong.

He is a big, outspoken guy who speaks as if everything he says ends with an exclamation point.

This is a Greenlandic quality, he admits.

And even though he became a Canadian citizen years ago, that voice of his hasn't gone away.

"We are independent," he says of Greenlanders.

His homeland is often held up as a good example for Nunavut to follow, as Greenlanders are known for having a strong language (Greenlandic, similar in form to Inuktitut) and a generally healthy society.

Rasmunssen agrees that Greenland has its act together in certain ways.

But the negatives in Greenland -- the crime and social ills that do exist there -- rarely make it on TV.

"The language is there, yes," he says. "But in Nunavut we have more culture. And here on Baffin we have everything. In Iglulik, in Pond Inlet, we have everything."

Tautenhahn-Rasmunssen has been around the North all his life, from Inuvik to Yellowknife, Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Tuktoyaktuk, Kimmirut, and Sanikiluaq. He worked for Statistics Canada as an interviewer collecting data. That gave him a close look at how people live.

He's been south only to visit and doesn't like it there.

It's too busy, crowded, and the landscape doesn't do much for him. But as far as social behaviours are concerned, Nunavut is way behind Greenland, and most parts of Canada he says.

"We have to get back to this standard level of behaviour," he says. "Then we'll stand out like Greenland and people will say 'Wow!,' he says in a passionate voice.

"We are standing out as Nunavut," he continues. "But we need to stand out more by behaving a certain way, not by going out and getting drunk and getting charged with wife abuse. That's really sad. Like, show some character!"

Alcohol and drug problems are crippling Nunavut he says.

"I wish families didn't have it. I do not accept it at all. But the elders have no choice. They live in that community. They have to report it."

Years ago Tautenhahn-Rasmunssen struggled with alcohol himself, but says he never got to a "major abusing level."

"To a certain point," he says. "Enough to see that alcohol could really take advantage of you."

He was living in Yellowknife, and says he started drinking because he missed his two children who were living with their mother at the time.

He also blames the problem on "boredom."

He learned from the experience that Northern society should give alcohol and drug abuse zero tolerance.

He thinks drug dealers and bootleggers should receive the stiffest penalties, and he is totally against having liquor stores in Nunavut.

"I think suicide would be at a much higher rate if we had a liquor store in Iqaluit."