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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Suspended from his job, under investigation by police, Bill Turner is nonetheless admitting he's the one who leaked a series of explosive e-mails to the media.

Bill Turner, a policy adviser at the NWT Business Development Corporation and a former security guard at the legislative assembly, admits it was him who alerted the media to a document containing e-mails from Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny trying to make a deal to have a government lawsuit against him dropped. "Everybody is too afraid to mention my name," said Turner. - Galit Rodan/NNSL photo

The e-mails were written by Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny, who appeared to be trying to have a government lawsuit against him dropped the day after winning his seat in the legislative assembly.

Dolynny and three of his business partners are being sued by the territorial government-owned NWT Business Development Investment Corporation (BDIC) for an unpaid loan guarantee of $100,000 to Aurora World, a Yellowknife-based tourism company that went out of business in 2007.

Turner remains - at least for the moment - a policy adviser with the BDIC. Up until Oct. 11 he was also a part-time security guard at the legislative assembly. It was during his last day on the job - Saturday, Oct. 8, two days before Thanksgiving and five days after the territorial election - that Turner says he was making his rounds at the legislative assembly when he came across a document sitting on a ledge that skirts most of the hallway leading to clerk's office.

It's one of the few areas in the building not monitored by security cameras, he said.

"I cut through the kitchen at the clerk's office, and that's when I noticed the document with BDIC and Mr. Turner written all over it," said Turner, adding he was the only security guard on duty that day.

"I called my mother and she said, 'for God's sake, don't take that document."

What he found was a collection of e-mail correspondence between Dolynny, BDIC lawyer Douglas McNiven, and Pawan Chugh, the BDIC's chief executive officer.

In one e-mail, written on Oct. 4, the day after Dolynny won his seat, the MLA-elect strenuously complains about Turner, accusing him of leaking BDIC files on the Aurora World lawsuit to the media, and fuelling "a slanderous media circus" at the start of his election campaign.

In the same e-mail, Dolynny proposes a remedy he believed would suit both the territorial government and himself: "Mr. Turner has an affirmative action grievance against BDIC and the GNWT that if successful or even if it prolongs itself, could have disastrous financial and (human resources) implications. I believe my involvement, testimony and proof could rid yourself of this very expensive problem, at the same time rid ourselves of the AWC issue."

The affirmative action grievance Dolynny refers to is the legal challenge Turner launched earlier this year against the GNWT's preferential hiring policy toward aboriginal and non-aboriginal residents born in the NWT. Turner - a member of the Temagami First Nation, located in the Bear Island area of Ontario - argues the policy discriminates against aboriginal job applicants from outside the territory.

Shocked and afraid, Turner said he took the e-mails home with him at the end of his shift. He phoned his boss Pawan Chugh, his union, "everybody and their dog," to tell them what he had in his possession. He even attempted to hand a copy of the document over to police at the RCMP headquarters, he said, but the officer wasn't interested.

Turner admits to lying to his boss about how the e-mails came into his possession. He told Chugh they were slipped under his office door at the BDIC, but he said he lied because he was afraid and didn't want to admit he came across them while working as a security guard, he said.

He can only presume the e-mails were left there for him to find, he said.

"There is protocol for filing confidential documents," said Turner. "You don't just leave them out in the open. GNWT protocol dictates that they be under lock and key."

On Oct. 11, Turner met with his boss and two GNWT labour relations officers. Turner said he was told under no circumstances was he to talk to the media. After that meeting he met with the manager of security at the legislative assembly. He was asked to resign, he said, and he did.

Turner said the official reason given for the resignation demand was because he had left his desk in the reception area of the Great Hall on the day in question to answer a buzzer at the back door, which was a "fatal sin," he said.

Turner was suspended with pay from his job at the BDIC the following week after the government launched an investigation into how the document left the legislative assembly.

Legislative assembly clerk Tim Mercer would not comment on the e-mails but did confirm the RCMP was called on Oct. 11 and is investigating a theft.

"The matter has been referred to the police, there's an investigation underway," said Mercer, adding police have yet to interview legislative assembly staff.

Mercer would not comment on the building's security cameras.

Turner said the GNWT has been investigating him for leaks since early September, when he was accused of passing information on the lawsuit against Dolynny to CBC North. He scoffs at that accusation.

"Every competent reporter makes a list of names (during elections) and takes a $10 bill down to the courthouse registry and looks through all the names (of candidates). That's common practice. You put Dolynny's name through there and you get Aurora World.

"I knew about his file through chatter at the office but it was certainly nothing I'd jeopardize my job over. I didn't have any issues with him until he tried to sell me down the river."

Dolynny, who expressed support during the election for legislation protecting whistle-blowers, told Yellowknifer last month that it was the BDIC that approached him about his allegations. He couldn't be reached for comment for this story.

Turner said he met with police Tuesday, and admitted taking the e-mail document from the legislative assembly. He wasn't charged, he said, but was told he was under investigation for theft and breach of public trust. Theft carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison; the breach of trust charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

He expects to be fired from the GNWT tomorrow for violating the government's code of ethics by breaching confidentiality rules.

RCMP Const. Kathy Law told Yellowknifer she's not aware of Turner's file, and she cannot speak to cases in which charges have not been laid.

A spokesperson for the Department of Human Resources declined to comment on its investigation.

Turner, who possesses a law degree from the University of Ottawa and a criminology degree from Carleton, ought to have a world of opportunities ahead of him. He said he feels like he's "28 going on 49" instead. His colleagues are deserting him and he can't find a lawyer because most in this city have at one time or another worked for the GNWT.

"Everybody is too afraid to mention my name," he said.

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