It appears that Ryan Fequet is no longer on the board of directors for the Tlicho Investment Corporation, after being a member for less than four months. NNSL Media asked about this apparent change, which elicited a sparse reply.
"This inquiry falls under our confidentiality obligations and commitments, therefore we have no comment on the below," stated Sarah Hunt, a communications person for the Tlicho Investment Corporation. The corporation owns and operates businesses for multiple industries and its sole shareholder is the Tlicho Government, according to its website.
In October, Fequet's name and picture still appeared under the board of directors page for the corporation. As of Oct. 31, it was no longer there. On July 8, the Tlicho Investment Corporation announced its new board of directors — a list that included Fequet's name.
NNSL Media reached out to Fequet on Oct. 31. He said he'd take questions the following day. When NNSL Media contacted him multiple times on Nov. 1, there was no answer, despite Fequet saying he would call back if he didn't pick up the phone in time.
He is also the executive director for the Wek'eezhii Land and Water Board and is a city councillor. He was recently in the news in those capacities.
In mid-October, Fequet asked city council if he could take leave for four months without pay.
"Last year was a pretty challenging one for my family, particularly my kiddos and my wife," he told his fellow councillors on Oct. 15. "We're going to step back from some of our commitments."
Most city councillors were not in favour of approving the leave. About a week later, Fequet withdrew his request.
He was also a representative of one of the three land and water boards in the territory that were scrambling to post financial statements to their websites after NNSL Media began looking into why those documents had not been made publicly available for the past several years.
Leonard DeBastien, executive director for the Gwich'in Land and Water Board, previously told NNSL Media that Fequet is the person in charge of updating that board's website.
On Oct. 8, Fequet said that is not true, however.
"No," he chuckled. "We might be mixing semantics but we have two staff, or three staff, I guess, who update our website regularly."