October 8, 1998
The OIC's master plan for Nunavut: 100 more jobs than Footprints 2
Only in Nunatsiaq News: Read this article to find out which Nunavut government jobs and functions are coming to your community
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT — By the time the final draft of a master plan for Nunavut's civil service was tabled last week, the projected size of government in Canada's new territory had already swollen by 100 bodies.
Instead of the 1,100 employees originally forecast in the Nunavut Implementation Commission's Footprints 2 report, Nunavut leaders approved a job plan that would squeeze more than 1,200 public servants onto the government payroll.
More than half of these extra positions will be created in Iqaluit, but the job plan put forward by Interim Commissioner Jack Anawak also improves the outlook for Rankin Inlet, Pangnirtung, Arviat and Baker Lake.
Anawak's plan was approved Oct. 1 by Nunavut leaders meeting in Ottawa.
Overall, some 433 new full-time headquarters positions in Iqaluit have been identified. All Nunavut government departments, along with the Legislative Assembly are to have head offices in the capital.
Jobs leave Iqaluit
The plan also calls for 215 positions to be gradually shifted out of Iqaluit and redistributed among four other Baffin communities, where some 50 GNWT positions already exist.
Six other communities — three in the Kitikmeot and three in the Keewatin — will share the remaining 500 positions, of which several are currently held by GNWT employees.
The deviations from the Footprints 2 model were deemed necessary, partly to minimize the impact of relocation on public servants, but also to ensure that government services are not interrupted during the transition to the Nunavut government.
Pangnirtung
In the Baffin region, Pangnirtung, (pop. 1,300), will experience the most significant influx of jobs, with a total of 78 positions in health and education being transferred from the capital and distributed as follows:
Kitikmeot jobs
In the Kitikmeot, the hamlets of Gjoa Haven (pop. 900) and Kugluktuk (pop. 1,200) will each see the addition of 23 government jobs, mostly in the Department of Community Government, Housing and Transportation (CGHT).
Kugluktuk
For Kugluktuk, this will bring the total number of Nunavut government positions to 56, with new jobs distributed as follows:
Gjoa Haven
In Gjoa Haven, the new jobs will be distributed as follows:
Qikiqtaaluk jobs
Pond Inlet
A total of 65 Nunavut government positions will be transferred to Pond Inlet from regional headquarters of the GNWT's Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, and from the Department of Public Works.
The final number of jobs moving to Pond Inlet is seven fewer than anticipated in the Footprints 2 report and will be distributed as follows:
Most of the 56 new civil servant positions in Cape Dorset will also be in the form of positions transferred out of Iqaluit, to be distributed as follows:
Cape Dorset
Igloolik
Another community well-poised to reap the benefits of Nunavut's decentralized government is Igloolik (pop. 1,200), seat of Nunavut government's new Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth (CLEY).
In addition to current GNWT employees, Igloolik is preparing for 72 new full-time jobs — three fewer than forecast in Footprints 2 — of which 13 are jobs transferred from the capital. They are distributed as follows:
Kivalliq jobs
Arviat
The largest number of new jobs in the Keewatin will flow to the community of Arviat (pop. 1,600), which picks up 61 new positions in addition to existing GNWT jobs.
Some of the positions have already begun to move into Arviat, and will continue to move as office space and housing becomes available. The new jobs will be distributed as follows:
Baker Lake
The job plan calls for the creation of 52 new full-time jobs in the hamlet of Baker Lake (pop. 1,400), future home of the Nunavut Workers' Compensation Board.
The new positions, in various levels of responsibility, will supplement those jobs currently held by GNWT staff and are distributed as follows: