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NUNAVUT
Almost two months after Premier Eva Aariak asked for an integrity review of South Baffin MLA Fred Schell, Integrity Commissioner Norman Pickell has "concluded that there was sufficient grounds for conducting a review," he stated in a May 10 media release.

Pickell will conduct his review in private and will not make any more comments to the media about the review either while it's underway or after it's completed, he wrote.

The Government of Nunavut will not reveal the allegations in light of the review being underway, according to press secretary Emily Woods.

The integrity commissioner cannot investigate the conduct of an MLA until he has received a formal written request and affidavit providing grounds for a review. Cabinet secretary Daniel Vandermeulen sent that request and supporting documents by courier April 19, and Pickell received them April 23, he stated.

"After reviewing the material, (I) asked for and received some clarification from the cabinet secretary on May 1," and started the review on May 4, he stated.

Pickell has sent Schell and his lawyer copies of the documentation, and he is awaiting a response.

This is Pickell's fourth review of an MLA's conduct since he was appointed in July 2008, the last of which was also into Schell's conduct.

Although Schell was found guilty in October 2011 of sending an e-mail to a bureaucrat about a private business interest prior to his promotion to minister, the legislature rejected Pickell's finding because he should not have investigated comments made in the legislature, where Schell's freedom of speech is protected by parliamentary privilege.

Still, the legislature asked Schell to apologize and pay a $1,000 fine.

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