July 21, 2000
SEAN McKIBBON
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT — The tenants of Iqaluit’s red federal government building, located right next door to the Nunavut legislative assembly, have begun to move into their new office space.
As many as 125 federal employees are expected to occupy the office building, says Charles Slowey, a spokesperson for the federal government’s Department of Public Works and Government Services.
"We’re starting to phase in the different departments. We’re not going to do it all in one go," said Slowey. Most of the departments and their employees should be in the new building by the fall, he said.
But at least two municipal leaders in the Kitikmeot say they would like to see some of those federal positions move out of Iqaluit and and into regional centres.
Keith Peterson, the mayor of Cambridge Bay, says the federal government should decentralize DIAND’s mining-related positions to the Kitikmeot, where there is more potential for mineral exploration.
Dennis Lyall, the mayor of Taloyoak, says that he would like to see a regional HRDC office to serve people in the Kitkmeot.
Both men say the reason for having local offices in their region is a matter of simple logistics. It can take as many as four days and thousands of dollars for a person to travel from the Kitikmeot to Iqaluit.
"There’s a massive build up of business in government in Iqaluit when it would be much easier for us and our constituents to be able to go to our respective offices in the Kitikmeot. The people are here. We should have some of the services here," said Peterson.
"When I went over to the Nunavut Association of Municipalities meeting (in Iqaluit) it cost me $4,004 and it cost me a night in Yellowknife there and back," Peterson said.
"For me to get to Iqaluit for a full week, I have to leave here on Sunday, travel all day Monday for meetings Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and then I leave Friday and I can get back, get back to Yellowknife and I’m home Saturday. Whereas if I leave here Monday I can be in Ottawa Tuesday," said Peterson.
From a travel perspective, it’s easier for Kitikmeot residents to go straight to Ottawa to deal with DIAND officials, he said.
"That’s just me. At least I have jet service in my community," other community leaders are not so lucky," Peterson said.
He said the injection of new wage earners into Iqaluit’s economy creates an imbalance and is unfair to the other regions.
And he said the housing construction that the new employees have spurred is great for Iqaluit residents, but does nothing for the economy of his community. He said the federal government should follow the territorial government’s lead on decentralization.
"There’s growing discontent in the Kitikmeot that while we are part of Nunavut, we’re forgotten by our federal and territorial departments," said Peterson.
So far, DIAND has no plans to establish a presence in the Kitikmeot. Peterson says DIAND only has one employee in his region, and one in the Kivalliq.
"Right now from our perspective the main focus should be for establishing our resources in our regional office in Iqaluit," said Jennifer Lilly, a DIAND spokesperson Although, she said that if a mine is established in the Kitikmeot in the future, more staff might be moved into the region.
"That [establishing a mine] is still a few years away," she said.
Lyall said he believes that if HRDC were to establish an office in his region, it would be easier to find out about and apply for federal funding programs.
"The other regions do have it. I believe it’s very important that we do get an HRDC position in our region because access to federal funding is so much easier through HRDC. Having them right in our region and seeing our needs it would be so much easier," Lyall said. He said he would also like to see a federal environmental officer in the Kitikmeot.
The new federal building in Iqaluit cost $7.6 million to build, said Slowey.
Some of the positions moving into the new building have already been filled.For instance DIAND already has 24 employees working in Iqaluit.
But by the end of this fiscal year DIAND plans to increase it’s staffing in Iqaluit to 60 positions, said Jennifer Lilly, a DIAND spokesperson. She said the majority of those positions would be indeterminate or "permanent" positions.
Slowey said that the employees or positions moving into the federal building break down like this:
• DIAND: 47 positions
• RCMP: 21 positions
• Justice: 14 positions
• Environment Canada: 10 positions
• Parks Canada: 12 positions
• Canadian Heritage: three positions
• Industry Canada: one position
• NRCAN: three positions
• Public Service: two positions
• Public Works: nine positions
• Transport Canada: two positions
• Revenue Canada: one position