Okalik criticizes Aariak for removing justice minister over email
Minister was trying to start debate, Okalik says; premier calls remarks 'offensive'
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 | 2:54 PM CT
CBC News
Nunavut's former premier has accused the current premier of stifling debate by stripping her justice minister of his portfolio because of comments he had made in an email to senior staff.
Paul Okalik, the MLA for Iqaluit West, said Premier Eva Aariak was wrong to remove Louis Tapardjuk as justice minister over the weekend, after Tapardjuk had sent a two-page email to senior justice staff voicing his views on Canada's justice system.
In the email, in which he discussed Inuit traditional knowledge and the justice system, Tapardjuk wrote that the system has killed more young people through suicide than were ever murdered.
He also suggested that women who start domestic disputes share the blame if there is violence.
'Differences of opinion'
Okalik, who was justice minister as well as premier in the previous government, said Tapardjuk was only trying to start a debate.
"That's the only way we're going to find solutions, is to have maybe differences of opinion on the sources of some of the problems we face," Okalik told CBC News outside the legislature Monday.
"But that doesn't give you permission to just remove ministers from their portfolios."
Okalik said he agrees with Tapardjuk's view that long delays in the justice system have led to many suicides in Nunavut.
But Aariak stood by her decision to strip Tapardjuk of his portfolio, which she announced through a news release on Saturday.
"The comments that he made about violence or the cause of violence were offensive," Aariak told reporters.
Email circulated widely
Tapardjuk said his email was sent to just three of his staff members, but said he doesn't know how it got circulated to other people, including several media outlets.
"That email wasn't meant for anybody except for my staff, and I just wanted to get a good reaction from them before the cabinet retreat in [Cape] Dorset," he said.
"I wanted to get a good discussion, to get a feeling as to which direction we should be heading."
Tapardjuk said he accepts Aariak's decision and will concentrate on his other ministerial portfolios, which include the newly-created Languages Department and the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth. He is also government house leader.
Still, he said he plans to remain vocal on justice issues in Nunavut.
