The mayor of Igloolik is looking for an apology from Ed DeVries, the candidate for the Marijuana Party in Nunavut in the last federal election.

DeVries has sparked controversy in his home community after being featured in a newspaper article last week, talking about the carvings and artifacts he's collected in exchange for pot and cash.

He's quoted as saying a lot of the people in Igloolik are "potheads."

Igloolik Mayor Paul Quassa says the community is not impressed with DeVries, who moved there last September.

But he's particularly worried about the impact these comments have had on the community's reputation.

"It has tarnished our community and a lot of the statements that Ed DeVries had stated in Nunatsiaq News are so out of whack, are not true," he said.

Quassa says the hamlet council discussed the matter at a meeting on Monday, and he's spoken to DeVries as well.

DeVries says he didn't mean to upset anybody, but he continues to defend his right to use marijuana, and says he uses it to help heal people.

He also says he believes the majority of the adults in Igloolik have smoked pot.

"I apologize. I didn't label the people of Igloolik as potheads," he said. "I think the people of Igloolik have a right to use cannabis marijuana at their own discretion sensibly, without being interfered with by the rest of the world; I think all of us have that right."

DeVries is already facing charges of trafficking marijuana and laundering the proceeds of crime.

Quassa says he wants to find out what the police think of all this, and notes that some community members have suggested that DeVries be banished from Igloolik.