PANGNIRTUNG - A Pangnirtung man's efforts to recoup his late father's lost RCMP pension has gained some political support.

But despite the political inroads, Andrew Dialla remains frustrated with what he says is a lack of communication from those whose help he has sought.

Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day and Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell have both pledged their support for Dialla, who is attempting to reclaim his father's RCMP pension for his years of service as a Special Constable.

In a letter to Karetak-Lindell, Day indicated that the RCMP will review the matter.

Dialla's father, Joanasie, died in May 1984, having never filled out his pension form because it was sent to him in English.

"He could speak English a little bit but with a lot of problems," said Dialla of his father. "He had a hard time getting himself understood."

Following Joanasie's death, Dialla's oldest brother, Tim, discovered he and his siblings would only receive a small portion of what should have been a $30,000 pension, said Dialla.

"The money we did receive was my mom's spousal part of my dad's life insurance. $2,400: that's all we got. Tim, as the older man in the family, split it 10 ways between the siblings.

"We expected (the full pension). After Dad died, we found we couldn't get that."

Dialla said he has attempted to gain Karetak-Lindell's support but that Karetak-Lindell has not responded to his e-mails.

Dialla said he first wrote Karetak-Lindell an e-mail about his father in February and received no response.

Dialla said he then sent a second e-mail to Karetak-Lindell's office on June 10, in which he wrote of his previous e-mail. "Before I sent the last letter about my dad, I copied and pasted it to Microsoft Word and saved it on my laptop," he wrote. "You may read it yourself now if it got 'lost' in your digital world."

Dialla's e-mail continued, "Dad's life insurance was supposed to be over $30,000. We want that plus interest starting from 1973, when he would have cashed it in if he could read English. I am not giving up.

"I have my father's service record from the RCMP. It states each child was to receive $4,000 upon his death."

Dialla did gain one political ally in Peter Kilabuk, MLA for Pangnirtung.

Kilabuk sent a letter on June 11 to Karetak-Lindell in support of Andrew's cause.

"I...ask that a request be put to the RCMP for an apology to the family in how they have been ignored and treated," wrote Kilabuk. "Your office is probably in the best position to assist the Dialla family (in getting) a response from the authority handling this file."

Unbeknownst to Dialla until last week, Karetak-Lindell wrote Stockwell Day a letter supporting Andrew's cause on April 25.

Dialla said he was not contacted by Karetak-Lindell's office about the letter when it was written.

Karetak-Lindell could not be reached for comment, but her executive assistant, Susan Scullion, said that Karetak-Lindell never heard about the matter from Dialla but instead read about it in an April issue of Nunavut News/North.

After reading the article, "Nancy hand-delivered her letter to Stockwell Day during a voter question period or something, just to make sure he got it in person," said Scullion.

"The minute Nancy had hand-delivered the letter to Stockwell Day, we phoned (Dialla) to say, 'We have this letter to Stockwell Day and we want to send it to you for your records.'"

Scullion added, "Nancy herself is the daughter of a Special Constable. And she's very proud of that heritage. If she thought that Special Constables were being mistreated, she'd be horrified. And that's why she tore out the article in (Nunavut News/North) and said, 'We're looking into this right now.'"

On June 14, Scullion said that Karetak-Lindell had received a letter of response from Day, in which Day acknowledged receiving Karetak-Lindell's letter and said he that he sent it to "the appropriate people," said Scullion.

Day's letter to Karetak-Lindell, sent to Dialla and forwarded to Nunavut News/North, said, "I have forwarded a copy of your correspondence to the RCMP, and I am advised that the RCMP will review Special Constable Dialla's service and pension file, and communicate directly with the Dialla family regarding this matter."