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KIVALLIQ - The region's seven community leaders spoke with a unified voice at the Kivalliq mayors' meetings in Coral Harbour this past week.

The mayors shared a number of concerns at the meetings, including a review of the Kivalliq medical travel contracts, barge cargo delivery and improved airline service in the region.

Mayors John Hickes (Rankin Inlet), Jerry Panniuq (Coral Harbour), David Aksawnee (Baker Lake), Harry Tootoo (Chesterfield Inlet) and Bob Leonard (Arviat), left to right, were among the delegates to attend the annual Kivalliq mayor's meetings in Coral earlier this month. - photo courtesy of John Hickes

Coral Mayor Jerry Panniuq said he was happy with the way the meetings went overall in his community.

"Among the topics that really interested me were the discussions on the medical travel contract being reviewed by the Government of Nunavut (GN), and increased airline service in our region, especially to the smaller communities," said Panniuq.

"The main concern I expressed for Coral concerned the amount of drugs making their way into our community by mail and as plane cargo.

"There's too much of that stuff getting in here and the GN and RCMP have to do their share to crack down on it.

"We also spent two or three hours talking with NTCL (Northern Transportation Company Ltd.), and, to me, they seemed to be taking our concerns seriously to improve their service."

The mayors were informed during the meetings that new Health Minister Tagak Curley will head up a review of the Kivalliq medical travel contracts in the near future.

Canadian North and Kivalliq Air are in the first year of a threeyear contract awarded to them by the GN in 2008 to provide medical travel services in the Kivalliq.

Rankin Inlet Mayor John Hickes said there are far too many problems with the way the service is being provided, especially with the longevity of flights and the size of some aircraft being used.

"We have people only a day or two removed from surgery who are disembarking numerous times from the aircraft during the flight back to their home community," said Hickes.

"A lot of people are suffering discomfort on these flights.

"Having five stops on your way home to Repulse Bay after two days of surgery is not the best way to travel.

"The Kivalliq mayors made it a point to seek a review of the contracts, and if there are issues identified, they must be corrected."

Arviat Mayor Bob Leonard said the Kivalliq mayors came to the meetings with many of the same issues.

He said the universal concern was medical travel and the treatment of patients while they're in Winnipeg.

"The health concerns raised by the Kivalliq mayors are all legitimate ones that need to be addressed, and we spent more time on that than anything else," said Leonard.

"As far as Arviat itself, we're having another look at our priorities right now.

"We intend to revise our priorities based upon what will give us the most employment and biggest return from the various mining and exploration companies operating in the region.

"Any development we undertake during the next five years will be related to increasing the number of jobs or business opportunities in the community."

Leonard said a lot of local issues were expressed during a teleconference to plan the mayor's meetings.

But, he said, once the meetings started, everyone was on the same page.

"The issues we dealt with were either regional in nature, or territorial issues we dealt with as a region.

"I was really impressed because everyone had almost the exact same concerns and we dealt with them together."

Leonard said he was impressed with most of the presentations delivered at the meetings, including new approaches to banking, NTCL and improved air service.

However, he was disappointed with the lack of GN representatives at the gathering.

"I was surprised, shocked and disappointed by the participation level of the ministers and MLAs at these meetings," said Leonard.

"Having only one MLA (Johnny Ningeongan) and one minister (Lorne Kusugak) present was quite poor.

"We should be seeing full participation by the regional MLAs at these meetings, if nothing else."

Hickes said a budget meeting and an economic forum being held at the same time were partially responsible for the low GN showing.

But, he said, that's no excuse for staff members not having attended.

"If any of the regional MLAs couldn't attend due to other commitments, they certainly could have sent one of their alternates to attend," said Hickes.

"We represent the communities in this region, and we have a number of ministers also from this region.

"A number of the issues raised at the meetings were specific to the portfolios of some of the ministers, and they should have had someone here to acknowledge our concerns."