An aerial view of Clyde River, Nunavut on May 15, 2022.Pat Kane/The Globe and Mail
Update: Malcolm Ranta is no longer facing any charges related to this matter. He was acquitted in the Nunavut Court of Justice on August 20, 2024.
The executive director of an esteemed Inuit counselling program in Nunavut is on leave after being charged with sexual assault.
The RCMP charged Malcolm Ranta, 34, with one count of sexually assaulting a woman in Clyde River in January, 2021, according to documents from the Nunavut Court of Justice. The alleged victim’s name is protected by a publication ban.
Mr. Ranta is the executive director of the Ilisaqsivik Society, an organization that oversees Our Life’s Journey, a counsellor training program delivered in Inuktitut and rooted in Inuit values. The society has been tapped to train a new work force of Inuit counsellors for Nunavut’s first residential trauma and addictions treatment centre, which is slated to open in Iqaluit in late 2025.
The Globe and Mail travelled to Clyde River this year to profile Ilisaqsivik and explore its work delivering Inuktitut-language counselling in a territory where most providers of mental-health services are English-speaking southerners.
Ilisaqsivik also operates a culture and heritage research centre, and a for-profit social enterprise called Tukumaaq Inc. that owns two hotels and a portfolio of rental properties. Ilisaqsivik is the largest employer in Clyde River, a fly-in community of about 1,200 on the eastern coast of Baffin Island.
When news of the charge against Mr. Ranta broke in mid-November, the vice-chair of Ilisaqsivik’s board told the Iqaluit-based Nunatsiaq News that the society would stand behind him.
“We see no truth in the accusations that have been made against him and we are confident the court system will come to the same conclusion,” Nunatsiaq reported Jukeepa Hainnu as saying in an e-mailed statement.
Nunatsiaq also reported that Ms. Hainnu said Ilisaqsivik had done its own investigation into the matter.
Ilisaqsivik has since changed its stance, telling The Globe in an e-mailed statement on Monday that while the society’s board interviewed Mr. Ranta, who denied the accusation, it did not conduct an investigation. Mr. Ranta is also the director of operations for Tukumaaq.
A statement, sent on behalf of the boards of Ilisaqsivik and Tukumaaq, said that “regrettably, without the benefit of advice, the boards took no initial action following the receipt of this information and it was unfortunately reported in the local media through the Nunatsiaq News that the board of Ilisaqsivik had conducted an investigation and saw no merit in the allegations. This was incorrect.”
The statement came from Heidi Vincent, an Ottawa-based communications professional who has worked for Ilisaqsivik for about a year. The statement also said the boards were not in a position to comment on the merit or lack of merit of the charges.
Mr. Ranta is on a personal leave. When that leave expires, he will be placed on administrative leave until the charges are resolved in court, the statement said.
Messages from The Globe to Ms. Hainnu, the vice-chair of Ilisaqsivik, were not returned.
Mr. Ranta’s lawyer, Solomon Friedman, said his client is innocent and the allegation against him is false. The allegation has not yet been tested in court.
“It is particularly disappointing that prior to laying this baseless charge, the investigating RCMP officer refused to allow Mr. Ranta to provide his version of events, including exculpatory evidence which would have categorically demonstrated that the complainant in this matter is neither credible nor reliable,” Mr. Friedman said in an e-mailed statement to The Globe.
“Given the police refusal to competently investigate this case, Mr. Ranta has no alternative but to demonstrate his innocence at trial. He looks forward to doing that as soon as possible.”
Mr. Ranta was due to appear briefly in court in Iqaluit on Monday.