Nunavut law students question candidates at inaugural forum
Candidates contesting Iqaluit's four constituencies fielded questions from Nunavut Arctic College students in a forum organized by the Nunavut Student Association.
Students in Nunavut Arctic College’s new law degree program say they’re looking forward to words matching action from Iqaluit MLA candidates who attended a forum at the college’s newest campus in Iqaluit, Oct. 19, just days ahead of the Oct. 30 territorial elections.
“Once we receive our law degrees, it’ll be four years from now,” said the president of the Nunavut Student Association, Nastania Mullin, who organized the forum with fellow association members Jessica Shabtai, Bonnie Osborne, David Lawson, Colin MacKay and Alana Copeland.
“We’re going to be able to evaluate, as lawyers, to say, ‘Remember what you said to us on our first month of law school?’”
The forum did not include a back-and-forth debate among candidates, but was structured to give candidates five minutes to talk about their campaigns.
That was followed by another two minutes each to respond to questions drafted in advance by the law students, and chosen randomly.
Nine of Iqaluit’s 13 candidates responded to the students’ invitation, including incumbent MLAs Pat Angnakak and Monica Ell-Kanayuk.
The strictly-monitored format largely kept candidates on topic, as they fielded questions on issues such as the relevance of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, addictions treatment, child support, language revitalization and tourism.