Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services
Monday, April 02, 2007

IQALUIT - Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley told the assembly last week that he believes the Sallirmiut to still be alive.

Historians say that these first residents of Coral Harbour all died off around 1900, but Curley disagrees.

"I can say that these people did not all perish. There are still some original Sallirmiut people from Coral Harbour. So therefore, it must hurt to see documentation in the schools stating that they all perished, but I can tell you that there are two individuals in Rankin Inlet who lived there and they are the third generations," said Curley.

Quiet around the bears

Hudson Bay MLA Peter Kattuk managed to pass on some Inuit knowledge while asking Minister of Environment Patterk Nester about the polar bear numbers in Sanikiluaq.

"We were always told not to talk about polar bears, otherwise they would arrive," said Kattuk, before asking Nester about the health of the Sanikiluaq bears.

Nester answered that the numbers are steady in Kattuk's region, but the health of the bears is in question. "We are not exactly sure why they seem to be losing weight," said Nester.

Passport problems

Getting a passport photo in one of Nunavut's communities is not easy, but the GN has taken steps to make it easier.

They are providing each hamlet with a camera capable of taking the photos.

They are also recommending that the hamlets use the machine as a revenue generator, by charging $30 to $40 a photo.

"We intend to supply all hamlets and communities with the necessary equipment. We will also ask each community to identify an individual to be trained to use the equipment," said Energy Minister Ed Picco.

The cost of the project is expected to be approximately $125,000.

Bringing art home

With a museum and archive planned for Nunavut, Akulliq MLA Steve Mapsalak wanted to know if Inuit art in southern galleries and museums would be coming home.

"Those artifacts were just taken from Nunavut without asking or getting permission.

Does the minister expect that those things will be repatriated," asked Mapsalak of Community, Language, Elders and Youth Minister Louis Tapardjuk.

Tapardjuk said repatriation of artifacts takes a lot of work.

"We have to try to plan for what would be the easiest way. The Ottawa Museum of Civilization holds artifacts that were taken from Nunavut.

As a government, we have to try and negotiate and work together but we have to think about it. For those individuals that are private collectors, we will have to consider how we are going to try to work with them.

There are people in the United States, England, Rome, Denmark and elsewhere outside Canada that, if we want to repatriate the artifacts, we would have to make careful plans," said Tapardjuk.

Southern judge, southern justice?

Arviat MLA David Alagalak is worried about southern judges having different standards than their Northern counterparts, and wanted to know what Premier and Justice Minister Paul Okalik was going to do about it.

"Usually what happens is when there's no judge available in Nunavut they retain one from outside of the Nunavut jurisdiction," said Alagalak.

"Usually when they're up here they bring the customs of their province.

There is usually a big difference between the Nunavut judge practising and a judge that has been retained from the south. Usually the judges from outside of Nunavut give harsher sentences."

Okalik said Nunavut's department of Justice has little control over the federal court system.

"It's out of our hands," he said. "They are independent, as I said. But I am urging my federal counterpart to appoint an additional judge. We will keep lobbying the federal government to make sure that they appoint a fourth one who will learn the customs and traditions of the people up here.

All I can say is that we are trying to get a fourth judge. I can't tell them how to carry out their jobs, but our federal counterparts are well aware that we need a fourth one," said Okalik.