A complaint against Nunakput MLA Jackie Jacobson has been dismissed by the Legislative Assembly’s integrity commissioner.
David Philip Jones filed his decision on the complaint on Dec. 31. The Legislature announced the decision Jan. 6. The complaint was related to a meeting of the Assembly’s Board of Management on Aug. 24, in which Jacobson participated. The board alleged Jacobson had an undelcared conflict of interest in the meeting, which included discussions of complaints filed against Assembly Clerk Tim Mercer and a report on his workplace, as well as an unrelated complaint against Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Steve Norn.
The day after the meeting, Jacobson swore an affidavit related to an incident between Minister Shane Thompson and Mercer that the board alleged was a sign that Jacobson had aligned himself with Norn.
In his decision, Jones said he accepted Jacobson’s accounting of events, whereby Jacobson was only asked to swear the affidavit after the Aug. 24 meeting.
Jones acknowledged that Jacobson’s signing of the affidavit had been an error of judgement. “Nevertheless, I am satisfied that Mr. Jacobson’s actions, regrettable as they were, were an error of judgment made in good faith,” the report reads. “This is a sufficient basis to dismiss the complaint.”
Normally Jones reports his findings directly to all MLAs but they aren’t sitting in the legislature until February, Speaker Frederick Blake Jr. made the announcement to media outlets. The report will be tabled in the House on the first day of the next sitting.