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Nunavut separated from the NWT to better look after its own interests and, two decades later, the Kitikmeot region should consider doing the same.

That鈥檚 the viewpoint of Charlie Lyall, an entrepreneur and former Kitikmeot Inuit Association president from Taloyoak.

鈥淲e鈥檙e always treated as a poor cousin,鈥� Lyall says, offering the Republic of Kitikmeot as a possible remedy.

He suggests that he鈥檚 not alone in thinking that way.

鈥淭here鈥檚 always rumblings of it,鈥� he says. 鈥淓verybody says when Yellowknife was our capital, we got better treatment. Of course, we鈥檙e closer to Yellowknife than we are to Iqaluit.鈥�

He鈥檚 critical of elected officials who don鈥檛 put the regions on equal footing.

鈥淵ou hear politicians talk about (how) we鈥檙e going to be fair to everybody, but everybody only includes the Baffin and Kivalliq, I think,鈥� he said. 鈥淗ousing is a huge issue here. Mental health is a huge issue. We need somebody to step up to the plate and say, OK, let鈥檚 get this work done right. Right now we don鈥檛 have that, obviously.鈥�

Lyall cites an instance when a new health centre was postponed in the Kitikmeot for a couple of years while a similar facility went ahead in the Kivalliq.

鈥淭hings like this are constantly happening,鈥� he says.

He was prepared to give the Government of Nunavut credit for its progress on advancing the use of the Inuit language, right up until the last sitting of the legislative assembly.

Earlier this month, Nunavut鈥檚 ministers and MLAs voted to pass the Interim Language of Instruction Act, which delays making Inuktut instruction mandatory in grades 4 to 12, which was previously scheduled to happen as of this year.

鈥淚t seemed like Inuktitut was going to be the universal language of Nunavut, but apparently not,鈥� says Lyall. 鈥淲e need the politicians to start being in charge, not the bureaucrats.鈥�

He was in Iqaluit when division occurred in 1999. He remembers a 鈥渉uge air of anticipation.鈥�

鈥淚 think everybody was expecting that things were going to get fixed and things were going to get better overnight,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat seemed, at that time, to be the feeling.

鈥淎nd, as we all know, it came to a grinding halt right after that.鈥�