IGLOOLIK IS "STRONG," MAYOR SAYS

Statements made by Ed deVries in your article "Busted pot politician
plans carving giveaway" has outraged Igloolikmiut (Nunatsiaq News,
July 28, 2006). The person interviewed by John Thompson is not
originally from Igloolik, and certainly does not speak on behalf of
Igloolikmiut.

Unfortunately, even though comments by Ed deVries as appearing in the
article are not true and misleading, they have tarnished our
community. They are also demeaning to the community and its people,
while insulting Inuit who are strong and strive in pursuit of
traditional culture, values and knowledge.

Ed deVries certainly has no right to imply to the rest of the world
that Igloolikmiut are potheads. Similarly, suggesting that he is a
healer, and merely provides cannabis as a form of medicine to treat
widespread sickness in the community surely indicates the misleading
nature of this self-interested politician.

For council and the community, all this misleading information is very
disturbing and has gone too far. Clearly, not everyone in Igloolik is
a pothead, and certainly not everyone is at his door selling carvings
and artifacts in exchange for pot as he implies.

Consequently, Mr. deVries needs to apologize to the community. For
council and the community's view, he also needs to consider how he is
using Igloolikmiut to further his own personal and political agenda,
instead of claiming to represent the views, long-term interests and
well being of the community.

The disturbing nature of Ed deVries' statements are particularly
revealing when we see our children and youth getting the wrong
impression that selling illegal substances is okay, and that being a
pot head as he describes it is okay too. That is so wrong; it boggles
the mind why a person says these things. This is not our future, and
we certainly will not allow that for our community or any other
Nunavut community.

In Igloolik, as in many Nunavut communities, many young parents are
struggling to feed and clothe their families. But with cannabis so
readily promoted and available because of people like Ed deVries,
young parents are getting cash-strapped and being lured into believing
their children will not know wrong from right. Consequently, this may
be a continuation of colonialism, and some would even argue genocide.

A further concern of council and the community involves law
enforcement. In this particular case, which appears so obvious, what
are law enforcement agencies doing about these situations? What does
it take to get action? Alternatively, with the appearance of no
action, residents suggest the community take justice into its own
hand, even though it has no recourse within the existing legal system.

Finally, we want to assure the rest of Nunavut that people like Ed
deVries should not be welcome to our growing communities, and
certainly should not become who they claim to be when they certainly
are not. We have future generations who are going to be handling
community affairs and lead our communities for the betterment of our
future.

But with people like Ed deVries telling our youth that doing and
selling drugs is just part of life, then our future will be bleak with
no sense of what is right and wrong in the eyes of the law.

Is this what we want in our community? Certainly not, for there are
much better things to look forward toward. In this regard, I wish to
remind everyone our community is strong and has a lot to give to the
rest of Nunavummiut.

Paul Quassa, Mayor

Igloolik