Growing a Government: The Nunavut experience
by John Harrison
On April 1, 1999, the Nunavut Territory and Government was born. In just over seven years, much has been accomplished. John Harrison, co-publisher, spoke with Simon Awa, Kathy Okpik, Victor Tootoo and Phoebe Hainnu, four senior public executives, about their thoughts and insights on the Nunavut government experience.
JOHN HARRISON: As you look back to 1999, what are some of the accomplishments
that stand out?
KATHY OKPIK (Deputy Minister of Education): We’ve come a long way since 1999. In addition to the creation of the new government, we had to make sure all the programs and services were implemented. That was a big task – to staff your organization in addition to implementing your programs and services with the goal of good quality services right away to the people of Nunavut. I think we’ve done a tremendous job in that area. Now we’re looking at how we offer our programs and services and how we can continually improve the delivery of those services. We’ve also accomplished a great deal in the area of Inuit employment within our government. We’re at 48%, which is very good, and we have a target of 56% by 2010 and a final goal of 85%, which will make the Government of Nunavut (GN) representative of the overall population.
VICTOR TOOTOO (Deputy Minister of Human Resources): Our workforce must be representative of the population, not just at the 85% overall, but at all levels, with the right numbers of qualified personnel. At the present time, there aren't enough Inuit financial managers in Canada; that is not a sustainable proposition, either for the GN or for the territory.
SIMON AWA (Deputy Minister of the Department of Environment): We are working very hard to achieve that goal and it sometimes seems to be impossible, but it is possible. One example, involving our department, involves an area that is very technical in nature – the law school that was established some years ago, for which I was a board member. It is specialized training that is very narrowly focused. What we did was very expensive, but it worked. We had over 100 interested applicants and, after screening them, ended up admitting about 15 people. Eleven graduated – some of those students are articling and some of them are already practicing.
KATHY OKPIK: Within the GN, we have an internship program, and we have a summer student employment equity program that gives the opportunity for students to, number one, stay in school and, number two, to get experience in the government so they can discover what they like, what they don’t like and hopefully focus on a career within government.
PHOEBE HAINNU (Assistant Deputy Minister, Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs): The GN is taking small steps and is learning to take bigger steps. We are coming up with programs that I believe will be used as a vehicle to maintain some of the cultural skills and the language that we need. The folk school that is being planned right now is important in preserving our culture; there are other vehicles that are being worked on like trades schools in the territory, and training centres that will keep people closer to home, even if it’s outside their community; it’s still a training program in the north. I know that the Department of Education has been working on an adult learning strategy that looks at the adult learner and the many broad things that would help the adult learner in Nunavut. I think it is an excellent starting point. The mining activity and the prospecting that are happening in Nunavut need similar things to a community, such as carpenters, laborers and other requirements. All these needs are incorporated in the adult learning strategy.
JOHN HARRISON: What are some of the challenges that you face now and in the future?
PHOEBE HAINNU: I think funding is still our most important challenge, because of the high cost of living here. With the territorial transfer funding, if you look at what we need and where we are, we are not getting the funding we need. Most of the government institutions in Canada are very mature, but we’re learning to grow, mature and build at the same time. We are trying to address all three areas with a budget that is only good enough for one of them.
VICTOR TOOTOO: Eighty-five percent of our revenues come from one source, the financing agreement with Finance Canada, and another five to ten percent comes from other transfers from the federal government. We’ve got over 90% funding dependency on the Government of Canada. That’s not a sustainable approach if you consider that in order to assert more control and to be self-governing, you have to be able to do it yourself. If we’re solely relying on the federal government as a jurisdiction, and the lion’s share of our revenues are at the whim of what happens in Ottawa, that’s not good. We need to have a wider base of revenues, and more sources of revenues through taxes. And it’s not going to happen from taxing the workforce that works for you – the government is the largest employer in the territory. We have some very basic needs that people in our territory are struggling with, such as food and shelter, that are of an even higher priority for the GN than mature, functioning jurisdictions that have been functioning for a hundred years.
KATHY OKPIK: New rules or regulations the federal government implements, for example, on water quality have a huge impact on Nunavut in terms of how to ensure water quality. There is a major need for new infrastructure – docks and ports, hospitals and schools – because the infrastructure we have now is aging and our population is growing. The cost of doing business in the north is more expensive than it is in the south; building materials have to be shipped in, and there is a short window for shipping and to ensure that everything goes through the tendering process. There are a lot of competing priorities for infrastructure and new initiatives and programs.
People within the federal government who administer or work on the territorial funding formula need to appreciate how expensive it is to build, purchase and to live in the north. People need to come and experience for themselves the needs that are here. It might look like they are giving a lot of money to
Nunavut, but you can’t make decisions just based upon the numbers alone – you have to understand the issues and the environment.
SIMON AWA: For my ministry, one of the biggest challenges we face is the wide variety of mandates under different statutes, including the wildlife act, environmental protection act, parks act, etc. Waste management and contaminated sites that are a direct responsibility of the Government of Nunavut are also challenges. Another big challenge is trying to get adequate funding through the
Nunavut Land Claims Agreement for the implementation of the Inuit Impact Benefit Agreement (IIBA), especially in the areas of parks and special areas. As a department or a government as a whole, we also have an issue trying to meet Article 23 of the Land Claims Agreement, to meet the Inuit employment targets. This is very challenging because, within my ministry, most of our positions are technical in nature, such as biologists and environmental protection officers. That makes it very difficult to identify and hire Inuit candidates. However, in working with some stakeholders and agencies, including the Nunavut Arctic College, and establishing our own training programs within the department, we are starting to address those challenges.
The reality is that, at the moment, there are not enough beneficiaries, not enough Inuit, qualified to take all the positions that we could offer them within the GN – the people who are qualified, who are capable, are in high demand. Wherever the monetary value or attraction might be, that is where they go, whether that’s Inuit organizations, the federal government, private organizations or the GN. They don’t stay too long in one place, maybe two or three years. We need to start concentrating on training opportunities; we should consider every position as a training opportunity. We must mentor them and provide them with training, provide them with opportunities so they can start to climb the ladder, because those of us who are Inuit, who are where we are right now, are not going to stay around forever. We need to be replaced and it would be desirable if we were replaced with qualified Inuit beneficiaries.
JOHN HARRISON: Looking to the future, what are some of your ministerial and government priorities?
KATHY OKPIK: The two big overarching priorities for the GN are to build a stronger, cultural foundation and to expand our economy. There is also our commitment to the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and we each have our own ministerial priorities. For example, in the Department of Education, one of our major priorities is implementing the bilingual education strategy, where the goal is to graduate students to be fully bilingual in Inuktitut and English. In terms of implementing the bilingual strategy, one of the important goals is to ensure we have more Inuit educators within our system. The teacher education program has been around since the early ‘70s, with a lot of graduates, but a number of them will be retiring soon, and some have left teaching and come into other positions in the government. Phoebe, myself and others are all former teachers who have gone through the program but ended up in other government positions. The majority of Inuit teachers teach at the kindergarten to grade three or four level. We need to look at getting more teachers to teach in the middle school and high school area.
SIMON AWA: Because we are in the wildlife management area, and environmental protection, I would like to see more conservation officers – at least two officers for the larger centres anyway. I see it like being an officer for the RCMP: you are always under scrutiny and always under risk, so if you have two people in each community, then at least you have support.
VICTOR TOOTOO: Developing our economy, having a larger resource revenue base are two important factors. If some of the funding ends up in operating the mines, then some of the revenues associated with those mines – not just in terms of taxes, but also in terms of royalties – will widen our own revenue base. Having a focus on tourism and things like the knowledge economy, where you can foster an internet-based workforce that doesn’t have to be in certain locations, are all really exciting possibilities for the future.
PHOEBE HAINNU: Our geographical area is huge and our population is tiny, and though that is a challenge, it’s also an opportunity at the same time. It’s having an existing program that came from somewhere, appreciating where we are, and trying to better it. Even though these are all happening at the same time, it is exciting and is causing us to set high expectations. Having time and patience, and carefully planning and strategizing a program, and working together, is important. As one of my mentors once said to me: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
A graduate of the Nunavut teacher education program, Kathy Okpik worked as a teacher for ten years. She was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of Adult Programs with the Department of Education in 2000, Deputy Minister of Human Resources in 2004, and was recently appointed Deputy Minister of Education.
Following a career as a journalist, Simon Awa served as executive director of the Nunavut Implementation Commission, and as executive assistant to one of the first Ministers in the Nunavut Government. He has served as ADM with the departments of Justice and Sustainable Development, and was appointed Deputy Minister of the Department of Environment in March 2004.
A certified accountant who returned to the region has an adult, Victor Tootoo has served as ADM with the departments of Finance and Health and Social Services. He became Deputy Minister of Human Resources on August 1, 2006.
A graduate of the Nunavut teacher education program and a former teacher, Phoebe Hainnu has served as an ADM with the Nunavut Government since in late 2000, including a post with the Department of Education. She was appointed ADM of the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs in September 2005.
