Columns

NTI wants Nunavut jobs up for grabs after 1999

JASON van RASSEL
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT­Nunavut Tunngavik is recommending that all government jobs in Nunavut be open for competition within three years after division.

That way, they hope to achieve their goal of having an 85 per cent Inuit workforce in the Nunavut government by 2008.

NTI, the GNWT, and the federal government have already agreed that by April 1, 1999, 50 per cent of all positions in the Nunavut government­including senior management­should be staffed by Inuit, and that eventually the percentage of Inuit staff should reflect the percentage of Inuit in Nunavut's population, which is roughly 85 per cent.

Re-apply for jobs

Meeting that 85 per cent target, and satisfying Article 23 of the Nunavut land claim agreement­which calls for representative Inuit employment in the government­could be accomplished by making government employees re-apply for their jobs in an open competition three years after division, NTI president Jose Kusugak says.

"It would ensure that Inuit can apply for those jobs like anybody else and the people who have those jobs can re-apply for them," Kusugak said in a recent interview.

"In order to accomplish the goals of Article 23, something like that will have to be done."

Response to NIC report

The plan isn't part of NTI's official policy, Kusugak said.

"It would ensure that Inuit can apply for those jobs like anybody else and the people who have those jobs can re-apply for them." ­ Jose Kusugak, wants Inuit to have a crack at government jobs after division

Rather, it's a recommendation made in NTI's official response to the Nunavut Implementation Commission's Footprints in New Snow report, which made its own recommendations on the design of Nunavut's government. Simply transferring existing GNWT employees to the Nunavut government without any conditions may be an easier, less radical approach, but Nunavut is a rare opportunity to start a government with a "clean slate," Kusugak said.

If it's ever adopted, the process would be fair, because government employees would know up front that they would have to re-apply for their own job within three years, Kusugak said.

Anyone hired after division would also be made aware of the conditions, he added.

"Anybody who would agree to move to the eastern Arctic would have to have that understanding­that the agreement is for three years," he said.

No reaction yet

No doubt aware of the huge implications involved in effectively laying off the entire public service­even if only temporarily­representatives from both the GNWT and the NIC said commenting on NTI's recommendation would be premature.

"There has been no endorsement or acceptance of that idea and as far as I know it's something that the Nunavut caucus is still considering and I'm not prepared to comment on that," Deputy Premier Goo Arlooktoo said Tuesday.

"It's a big question and as I understand what NTI was suggesting was a massive lay-off and then everybody applies again for their jobs," he added. "It's something that requires a lot of thought and something that I'm not embracing immediately."

A sensitive issue

NIC chief commissioner John Amagoalik said he knows about the recommendation, but that NIC doesn't have a position on it.

"I think we would have to have an in-depth discussion with NTI first before we make any comments on it," he said Wednesday.

"The only comment I would have is employment with the government is a very sensitive issue and we have to approach it very carefully."

At a press conference two weeks ago, Amagoalik addressed what he called "very low morale" in the GNWT by saying that people who are GNWT employees on March 31, 1999 will have a job with the Nunavut government on April 1.

Employees worried about today

But it's that same low morale that defuses much of the potential controversy in NTI's proposal, Andrew Johnson of the Union of Northern Workers says.

Employees aren't even sure about holding onto their jobs for the next two years­let alone the three years following division, Johnson said.

"There has already been a huge erosion in job security," he said Wednesday. "It's too early to say if [NTI's recommendation] will cause a massive reaction, [but] people are voting with their feet and leaving the North right now."

The Inuit employment targets have been known for a long time and people have plenty of time to adjust, Johnson said.

"I think that's a perfectly valid objective and I think people have to get used to it."

Although job security is at an all time low now, NTI's recommendation could actually increase job security for some, Johnson said.

"Somebody who's bilingual­this is good news. It will increase their job security."

Micmac Indian was an inspiration for his people

Pilot killed in chopper crash north of Igloolik

TODD PHILLIPS
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT­A 29 year-old Micmac Indian who worked tirelessly to fulfill his dream of flying helicopters died last weekend in a crash north of Igloolik.

Investigators still don't know why Preston Joe's seven-seater Bell 206 Long Ranger helicopter crashed about 60 km north of Igloolik. He was the only one on board.

Joe's death was bad news for the 700 people of the Conne River Micmac reserve on the south coast of Newfoundland, south of Grand Falls.

The chief of the Conne River Micmac, Misel Joe, says his cousin Preston will be sorely missed.

"The whole community is suffering," Chief Misel Joe said this week.

He said Preston was a role model for both young and old in the community, because of his determination to make sacrifices to achieve his dream of flying helicopters.

"He mopped floors, he cleaned toilets, he did anything that was possible to keep him around helicopters," he said. "A lot of aboriginal people admire and respect that."

"He mopped floors, he cleaned toilets, he did anything that was possible to keep him around helicopters." ­Chief Misel Joe, cousin of helicopter pilot

Expected in Dorset

A spokesman for Baker Lake flight services says Joe set out from Hall Beach Friday afternoon for Cape Dorset. He was expected in Cape Dorset Friday evening, but when he didn't show up, Iqaluit flight services started trying to find him.

It was someone out on the land north of Igloolik who found the crash site and set off their personal locator beacon to alert the local RCMP detachment.

Guylaine Babin, the manager of Iqaluit's flight services, says she can't explain why Joe ended up north of Igloolik when his flight was listed as being directly from Hall Beach to Cape Dorset.

Ten feet tall

"It was a ferry flight for an undisclosed customer," said Joe's employer, Frank O'Connor, the co-owner of Aero Arctic Helicopters Ltd. from Yellowknife.

O'Connor wouldn't comment on the investigation into the accident.

"I'm still in a state of shock. He's a half a head shorter than me, but ten feet taller...He was well-liked, he was well respected, and he's the standard by which all other pilots should look up to." ­Frank O'Connor, remembers his former pilot

O'Connor says Joe had worked for him for about two years, and talks glowingly about his respect and admiration for his former pilot.

"I'm still in a state of shock. He's a half a head shorter than me, but ten feet taller," he said. "He was well-liked, he was well respected, and he's the standard by which all other pilots should look up to."

His cousin Misel says Preston was a highly skilled carpenter, but he left the reserve to pursue his dream. "It's so easy to stay in the community. But to go outside the community and to do what you dreamed of takes a lot of guts," he said.

"He was certainly making history for this community by doing what he was doing. He was the first to achieve that level," he said, adding that other Conne River Micmacs have since taken up flying.

The RCMP, Transportation Safety Board and the Chief Coroner of the NWT are still investigating the crash.

BRIA wants probe of Nunavut Trust

Is the Nunavut Trust making Inuit money grow fast enough? A consultant hired by BRIA says the organization is doing poorly Ñ but the CEO of the Trust says itÕs too soon to judge how well the fledgling organization is doing.

JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT­The chief administrative officer of the Nunavut Trust said this week that it's too early to judge how well the organization is managing Inuit land claim compensation money.

"We've only been in business for three years. You normally need to look at a longer period," the Trust's chief executive officer Andy Campbell said this week.

Campbell was responding to criticisms recently made by a consultant hired by the Baffin Region Inuit Association to evaluate how well the Nunavut Trust is managing Inuit compensation money.

BRIA says they think the Trust should be making more money and should be subjected to a thorough performance review.

"The preliminary study conducted by Deloitte and Touche confirmed BRIA's concerns that the Nunavut Trust was underperforming," a BRIA news release says.

Compared to other funds

In its study, a copy of which was given to Nunatsiaq News, Deloitte and Touche said the Nunavut Trust does poorly compared with 268 other mutual funds sold in Canada.

However, the consultants didn't get data from another 132 mutual funds they attempted to use for comparison.

And BRIA's consultants also said the Trust pays too much in professional fees, saying they're on the "high end" of what's normal in the industry.

"[A]bove average professional fees have not been justified by above average performance," the consultants say in their report.

Consultant pitches for more business

In addition to its criticisms of the Nunavut Trust, Deloitte and Touche also make a pitch for more BRIA business, suggesting that they be hired to do the performance review that they recommend in their report.

"The Review of Investment Activities, as described in the previous page, could range in price from $45,000 to $60,000," their report says. "To our professional fees we must add administrative expenses (word processing, long distance telephone calls, photocopies etc.), as well as traveling. These expenses will be billed at cost."

Consultant's study flawed?

But Campbell says Deloitte and Touche's study contains some serious flaws.

For example, he said the Trust has only been in full operation for two and a half years.

But the consultant compared its performance to the performance of a set of mutual funds over a full three-year period¬funds that in most cases have been in business for a long time.

He said that normally, analysts look at longer five-year cycles to judge the performance of investment funds.

"It's a bit like comparing apples and oranges," Campbell said.

Campbell also said the Trust also uses its own firm to monitor its own performance.

"We actually have a specialist in the field, the Canadian Trust Comparison service. It covers a much larger universe," Campbell said.

And Campbell said that in 1995, when the TSE's top 300 stocks grew at a rate of 20.6 per cent and Scotia McLeod's list of bonds grew at a rate of 17.6 per cent, the Nunavut Trust produced earnings of 17.6 per cent.

No one did well, he says

In 1994, the Trust didn't do so well, but neither did anyone else. In that year, the TSE's top 300 produced earnings of -.2 per cent. Scotia McLeod's bond firms lost money too, earning only -4.3 per cent.

Campbell also pointed out that the Nunavut Trust was instructed to make conservative investments, so as not to put Inuit money at risk.

But safe investments usually mean lower returns, since higher investments mean higher risks.

Advisory committee to meet

Campbell said that the Trust's investment advisory committee was to have met today to talk about the organization's performance.

That group is made up of four of Canada's leading investment experts, including well-known economist Arthur Donner.

Campbell also said that BRIA board members didn't raise the issue at a May 7 board meeting that he attended, even though the consultant's study is dated May 6.

BRIA's executive director Paul Quassa did not return calls by our press-time this week about his organization's study.

What is the Nunavut Trust?

The Nunavut Trust is a body set up in 1993 to invest and manage the land claim compensation money that Ottawa is will pay Nunavut Inuit between now and the year 2007.

By 2007, the Nunavut Trust will be managing a fund with a principal of about $1.1 billion.

Interest from the Trust's investments of that principal is used to pay for the operating budgets of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the three regional Inuit associations.

UNW official predicts No vote in Baffin

UNW members in the Baffin are likely to say No to the proposed new collective agreement they're now considering, a UNW official says.

JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT­Most GNWT employees in the Baffin region are likely to vote No to the wage and benefit deal that's been offered up to them recently by the territorial government, a UNW official said this week.

Andrew Johnson, the UNW's regional vice president for the Baffin, says GNWT employees in Baffin and other Nunavut regions have "the most to lose" if no changes are made to the new collective agreement they're now considering.

He said that message came over loud and clear at two strategy gatherings at Iqaluit's Frobisher Inn last Thursday and Friday evenings.

"That majority of people were saying that voting No is the only logical thing to do," Johnson said.

Mediator may be involved

UNW members across the NWT are in the middle of a mail-in ratification vote on a new collective agreement. Johnson said it's possible that the result will be announced around July 8.

Talks between the GNWT and the UNW reached an impasse in mid-April.

If it turns out that a majority UNW members across the NWT vote No to the package, both sides must sit down with a mediator to resolve their differences.

If they can't come to agreement within 21 days of the mediator's appointment, UNW members may legally go on strike.

Last chance for changes to deal

But if members vote No, it's not necessarily because they want to go strike, Johnson said.

"It's the last chance we have to get it changed," he said. "If you vote Yes, the package as its stands will be signed off."

He said Baffin members don't necessarily want the GNWT to cough up more money­but he did say they want their offer to be "redistributed more fairly."

Nunavut hurt more than west

Many Nunavut members of the UNW believe that the GNWT's formula for reducing wages and benefits is "regressive," Johnson said, meaning that it affects territorial government employees in the east more than their counterparts in the west.

He said that when Finance Minister John Todd visited Iqaluit recently, UNW members asked him if he would consider a wage cut package that takes more away from employees earning higher incomes than from employees earning less, and minimizes the impact of regional differences.

But he said Todd didn't answer the question.

VTAs a key issue

The GNWT's current wage offer involves a complex recalculation of employee wages and benefits whose effect varies from community to community and from employee to employee.

Under it, the $5,400 accommodation allowance is combined with the employee's base salary, and then the new total is reduced by 6.25 per cent.

After that, existing settlement and vacation travel allowances would be combined into a new "northern allowance" that starts at a base of $1,750 for Yellowknife employees. That figure is higher for employees living in communities outside of Yellowknife.

The UNW and other groups have already complained bitterly about that formula, saying that in their opinion it unfairly targets people with families and people who live off the highway system.

That's largely because the value of VTAs­which are being eliminated­have usually been much higher for people with families and people who live in more remote places.

So because the proposed new wage package hurts them more, Baffin members are more likely to vote No than their western counterparts.

But Johnson repeated that's not necessarily what unionized GNWT employees want to do.

"We don't expect that a strike will be a fun exercise," Johnson said. "On the other hand, you can get a lot of community spirit going."

Public works and services and the hospital cut

Morale plummets as GNWT lays off staff in Iqaluit

JIM BELL
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT­Growing numbers of GNWT employees believe their employer can't be trusted and is lying to them about their job security.

"We don't trust the government, we don't trust Mr. [John] Todd, and we don't trust the agenda that he's been trying to put forward," the Baffin regional vice president of the Union of Northern Workers, Andrew Johnson, said this week.

"Stunned into silence"

"Morale has never been lower. Somebody in the Brown building was telling me the other day, 'How goddamn quiet it is in here. Everybody's been stunned into silence.' "

That plummeting morale sank even further after a new round of job reorganization and layoff plans announced to some government employees in Iqaluit this week and last.

"It's the worst way of handling layoffs I've ever seen," he said. Johnson said one group of employees­at the Department of Public Works­were given 24 hours to decide if they want to leave the government or apply for some newly created and renamed jobs within the same department.

"We don't trust the government, we don't trust Mr. [John] Todd, and we don't trust the agenda that he's been trying to put forward." ­ Andrew Johnson, Baffin union leader

New jargon word

Johnson says the GNWT has also unveiled a new jargon term to describe its restructuring process.

Their new term is "internal redeployment." Under it, old jobs are reorganized and renamed as new jobs.

But under the GNWT's restructuring plans, there aren't as many new jobs as there were old ones.

For example, in the Department of Public Works, 13 people are being asked to compete for seven new positions.

That's part of a plan to eliminate 17 DPW jobs in Iqaluit, Johnson said. The other four jobs are vacant positions that have been left unfilled.

Growing distrust?

But Johnson said that distrust of the GNWT is now so intense that he expects that perhaps only three or four of those people will re-apply for new jobs.

"They don't trust the government," Johnson said. "Any assurances that we might receive from [the government] are worthless."

Another problem is that some people may have no choice but to apply for new jobs that are one or two pay levels below where they are now.

And yet another problem is that job descriptions didn't exist for some of those new jobs­even though the affected employees were given only 25 hours to make up their minds.

Johnson said they were gathered together this Monday at 4:00 p.m., and were given until 5:00 p.m. Tuesday to make up their minds.

Although that move is "technically legal," Johnson said that in his opinion, it's an "immoral" move.

Minister responds

For his part, Goo Arlooktoo, the minister of public works and services, says the net effect in Iqaluit will be a reduction of seven person-years. He added that most of those laid off will likely have no problem in getting other government jobs, even jobs within his department.

As for why employees have just found out they are losing their jobs, he says it takes the government time to make changes.

"We did say that some of these things will take some time," Arlooktoo said this week from Yellowknife.

Hospital affected

Other recent layoffs in Iqaluit include the closure of the Baffin regional hospital's transportation department, which means two full-time drivers there will lose their jobs.

In addition, three other casual part-time drivers will lose their jobs, Johnson said. That's because they were paid out of money reserved for two vacant full-time driver positions there.

As well, the hospital is facing cuts in senior nursing jobs and in its pay and benefits department, Johnson said.

Picco warns of more layoffs

Meanwhile, Iqaluit MLA Ed Picco said government employees in Iqaluit should brace themselves for more job cuts.

"There's going to be more layoffs and that is going to be the normal course of events," Picco said. "What we're seeing now is the continuing deficit reduction strategy of the government."

And he said the same kind of cuts are happening in other larger centres, such as Rankin Inlet, Inuvik, Hay River, and Yellowknife.

He predicted that, including job cuts that have already been announced, at least 60 GNWT jobs could be lost in Iqaluit by the end of the year. Picco said he wasn't told about the recent Iqaluit layoffs until Friday.

With files from Jason van Rassel

My Little Corner of Canada

The marathon to the Stanley Cup

by John Amagoalik

Taima. It is finally over.

Uwe Krupp ended this year's marathon to the Stanley Cup by scoring the only goal in the fourth game of the Stanley Cup finals between the Colorado Avalanche and the Florida Panthers.

The goal came in the third overtime period of a game that left everyone, including fans watching on TV, exhausted. The last game of the 1996 season was, like the regular season and the playoffs, long and tiring.

There was a time when the hockey season was more like running the mile. Today, it's a marathon. It lasts longer but it's not necessarily more exciting.

When the league was much smaller and the season shorter, players still had enough energy at the end of the regular season to be able to go all out in the playoffs. The result was hard, fast, and exciting hockey. As a fan, you sat at the edge of your seat throughout most of the series. Today, players have to pace themselves for longer series and more games. Nobody can afford to go all out right from the beginning. If they did, they would drop from exhaustion before they reached the finals. The Florida Panthers were the victims of this exhaustion. The result was one of the more boring finals in recent memory.

Also, when there were fewer teams, fans knew most of the players in the league pretty well. They got to know their favourite players very well. Today, you need a guide to know who's playing for what team. And you'll be lucky if you get to see your favourite player more than a few times during the season. Also, the players move around so much that it's hard for fans to establish loyalties to any one team.

Today's hockey is watered down, the talent is spread thin, and the league has become too big and impersonal. If I had my way, I would cut up the league down to 16 teams and have a 60 game regular season schedule. The Stanley Cup would be hoisted by the winning team in late April and not in the middle of June. But I don't have my way and the league will probably continue to expand. As a result, my beloved sport will continue to suffer.

Congratulations to Joe Sakic and the Colorado Avalanche. They were not necessarily the best team in the league. They just outlasted everyone else.

Also, if Montreal had not provided them with Patrick Roy and Mike Keane, they probably would not have won Stanley's mug. It seems that Montreal provides key ingredients for each winning team in the last few years. This corner will see all you hockey fans in late August when Canada takes on the world. It should be more exciting hockey than what we have witnessed in the last two months.

(Editor's note: just a friendly reminder that John A. predicted the Detroit Red Wings would win this year's cup. They came close to making the final, but were crushed by an avalanche of talent from Colorado.

Ipellie's SHADOW

The Shadow meets the Pope

by Alootook Ipellie

This little brain thrust of mine had me laughing moments after I woke up the other morning.

I had another memorable dream. It was about­of all people in this minute world we humans occupy today­His Holiness, Pope John Paul II. And this is the scenario:

I find myself walking up the stairs beside His Holiness, to my humble house on top of the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest. His Holiness had his entourage with him as he always does on his world travels.

The Pope was walking on my right when I stepped to my right to avoid stepping on one of the many ridges along the way to my house. In the same instance, I bumped against His Holiness and almost sent him flying down one of the many cliffs that jut off the most famous mountain in the world. What a rush as I reacted like that hero of my long-forgotten comic books, the Flash. I managed to grab his pure white robe before he went off to Kingdom Come.

"Sorry about that, your Holiness," I said, quite shaken.

The pontiff mumbled something about forgiveness, but I didn't make it out clearly enough, since my mind sort of went blank at the enormity of the moment that I had just about sent our most sacred saint over the cliff...

With this little excitement out of the way, we made our way to my house, which turned out to be a huge mansion, suitable for any royalty, including the monarchs who presently occupy Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

I had the good fortune to have invited His Holiness for a state dinner when he was making one of his pilgrimages to the Himalayas for the very first time.

And what, you ask, was on the menu this holy day?

Muktuk, of course. Or as we say in Inuktitut, "maktaaq."

What merriment we created as we devoured hundreds of pounds of the delicious maktaaq. I have never felt so good to give what I have to a holy man like the present pontiff.

Nevertheless, for some reason, Pope John Paul II has always been one of my favorite people in this world, even though I am not a religious man. There is something about the pontiff that touches the hearts of so many people in this humble earth we call home.

I think, in the back of my mind, I always remember my dear grandfather, Inutsiaq, whenever I have occasion to see the pontiff on the telly, kissing the ground whenever he gets off a plane in some part of the world he happens to be visiting.

Some years ago, the pontiff touched down in Ottawa and his Popemobile passed by a huge crowd on the side of Wellington Street on his way to the Lebreton Flats where he was to appear before a throng who had come from all parts of Canada.

The Popemobile was going at a good 60-70 kilometres an hour. I barely had a moment to even see his face. I did not go where he had gone, but I could well see the masses down on the Flats from my vantage point. And at that moment, I thought, "It would be such a thrill to have a private audience with the man himself."

I suppose in a way, I finally had a private audience with Pope John Paul II, albeit in that particular dream.

I love dreaming. And dear readers, His Holiness does make a cameo appearance in my novel, "Akavik, the Manchurian David Bowie." One of these days, if we are all lucky, you will get to read about him more, if and when the novel ever hits the book stores in the not-too-distant-future.

In the meantime, I look forward to my next dream about the good ol' pontiff of our times.

Sweet dreams to you, too.

Editorial

For sale: one new territory?

Is the new Nunavut territory for up for sale even before it's born?

That's a provocative question, to be sure.

But given what we know of the territorial government's current restructuring plans, it's not an unreasonable one.

Whether you agree with it or not, the GNWT's plans for its assets­its staff houses, office buildings, vehicles and the other things the government owns­are clear.

They plan to sell as much of it as they can, and what they can't sell, they plan to give away to community governments¬who will then be stuck with the costs of operating and maintaining it.

In one or way or another, it's all aimed at producing a balanced budget for the GNWT by the end of the 1997-98 fiscal year, and to keep the government's accumulated debt from going any higher than the $85-$90 million or so that's expected for the end of 1996-97.

So why should we Nunavut residents be concerned about this? Don't we want the territorial government to bring its deficit under control?

Of course we do. But we also want a Nunavut that's well planned, and set up for success rather than failure.

Secondly, we also want a Nunavut that gets a fair deal when the existing assets and liabilities of the GNWT get divided up before April 1, 1999.

The problem is, there may not be many assets left for Nunavut by 1999.

We at Nunatsiaq News don't have the technical expertise to say whether or not Nunavut will need the staff houses, vehicles and other assets that the GNWT is now selling off to pay down its deficit.

But it's worth noting that the Nunavut Implementation Commission has already recommended against more staff housing sales until a comprehensive housing policy for Nunavut is developed.

Nunavut leaders, such as the Baffin region leaders who are now preparing to meet in Kimmirut next weekend, should start talking to each other about presenting a united front on the division of assets and liabilities issue.

And the first question they should ask themselves­and the GNWT­is if the GNWT's current policies are fair to Nunavut.

After that, they should ask themselves about another set of "assets" that the people of Nunavut will also depend on for the success of our new territory.

Those are Nunavut's human assets: the people who now work for the government of the Northwest Territories. Many of them­or at least those who manage to survive the next two years of job cutting and restructuring­will form the backbone of the Nunavut government's public service.

But when you look at what passes for human resource planning for Nunavut right now, all you see is chaos. And it's impossible to say if even the GNWT knows what it's doing in that area.

Less than a year ago, it was possible for the Nunavut Implementation Commission to predict how many people would be needed to run the Nunavut government, and in which communities they would likely end up living in.

But because of GNWT policies­especially its community empowerment policy­it now seems to be impossible to make those kinds of predictions.

That's the real reason the decentralization model for Nunavut's government that people voted for last year is now in danger. By the time the GNWT is finished slashing regional jobs and functions, there will be few government functions left to decentralize to the smaller communities.

And because of that, the economic ambitions of communities like Cape Dorset, Igloolik, Rankin Inlet, Arviat, Baker Lake, Gjoa Haven, Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay may be dashed. We're sure that Baffin leaders will want to start talking about that question in Kimmirut next weekend too. JB

These materials are Copyright (C) 1996 Nortext Publishing Corporation (Iqaluit), and may be freely distributed throughout the Internet, or other electronic computer networks or bulletin boards, as long as this notice remains intact and the articles are reproduced in their entirety. These materials may not be reprinted for commercial publication in print or other media without the permission of the publisher.