OTTAWA -- Former Liberal cabinet minister Hunter Tootoo will not be allowed back into the party's caucus, a senior government source told CTV News.
Tootoo is back at work after completing treatment for alcohol addiction. He resigned from cabinet and from the Liberal caucus last May, after what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described as "a very difficult situation."
A spokesman for Tootoo told CTV News that the Independent member for Nunavut is reconnecting with constituents for now, and they would wait until Tootoo's return to Ottawa in the fall to discuss a possible re-entry into caucus. That seems to contradict the position of the party's senior officials.
At the time Tootoo resigned from caucus, Trudeau gave only a terse statement, finishing with, "We will have nothing further to say on this matter."
It was a stark difference from when Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal MP Seamus O'Regan said in December he was seeking treatment for alcohol addiction.
"My thoughts are with my friend & colleague @SeamusORegan tonight, and he has my full support," Trudeau tweeted at the time.
Tootoo held a press conference and open house in his Iqaluit office today.
Tootoo said he hasn’t spoken to Trudeau or any other Liberals, and that a possible return to the Liberal caucus is a bridge he’ll cross when he comes to it.
"I’ll be looking at that when I return to Ottawa in September," he said.
'I needed help'
The Nunavut MP was careful to speak openly about his addiction while revealing little about what led to his resignation from caucus, referring only to "deeply personal and private issues" that haunt him.
"I know there’s lots of rumours out there. The fact of the matter is I came to the realization that the disease of alcoholism is a progressive disease, was affecting me in a way that I myself wasn’t happy with, and I realized that I needed to do something and I needed help," he said.
"I recognized I was going down a road that I didn’t want to go down…. You don’t really realize until it becomes too much for you."
Tootoo said his treatment program was somewhere in southern Canada, but for privacy reasons wouldn’t say where. He admitted this isn’t the first time he's quit drinking.
"There have been times I’ve gone up to 13 years without drinking and always went back to it," Tootoo said. "Anyone with any addiction, whether it’s alcohol or anything else, there’s underlying issues that you need to face. At the time I thought my problem was alcohol so I stopped drinking. But having not dealt with the deeper issues you always end up going back to it. So this time I realized that I needed to face those issues head-on if I was going to continue with sobriety."
In a statement sent following his remarks at the open house, Tootoo said it's been a difficult journey.
"Unfortunately, alcohol is often a coping mechanism for trauma, and that trauma is far too common in our (Inuit/Indigenous) communities. I have personally been affected by those impacts."
Tootoo reiterated it was his decision to step away, and said he needed to devote all his energy to getting healthy.
"I’m committed to continuing my treatment with AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] meetings. I’m much stronger now. I’m focused, healthy and ready to move forward," he said.
Tootoo said he has a lot of respect for Trudeau and believes in Trudeau's government.
Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern says she hopes Tootoo returns to the Liberal caucus.
"Being a Liberal member is what we elected," she said. "Ideally he needs to assist us in being able to access those decision makers and ideally lobby on our behalf -- or lobby with us -- so we can get the additional resources that we need."
With a report from Don Martin
