Premier announces staff changes
Les Hickey filling in as Human Resources deputy minister, Beth Brown joins as press secretary
Premier P.J. Akeeagok, shown in this file photo, announced changes to senior management staff in the Government of Nunavut on Thursday. (File photo by Meral Jamal)
Premier P.J. Akeeagok announced changes to senior management roles in the Government of Nunavut on Thursday.
Sheila Kolola, deputy minister for the Department of Human Resources, has left the government to join the Kakivak Association as its CEO.
Les Hickey will continue on in Kolola’s place temporarily until the position is filled, Akeeagok said in a news release.
“Ms. Kolola is a long-time public servant, and her institutional knowledge is a loss for our government. I wish her all the best as she moves on to support the territory in another capacity,” he said.
Beth Brown, a former journalist with CBC North, Nunatsiaq News, Nunavut News and Up Here magazine, also joins Akeeagok’s office as his press secretary.
“The press secretary promotes communication and transparency for our government,” Akeeagok said.
“I want to ensure Nunavummiut stay informed about the work my office and our cabinet are doing to fulfill the Katujjiluta mandate.”
Sheila Kolola has been holding back staffing and forward thinking HR for too long. She didn’t stop or see a problem with Lightstone hiring his own wife into senior management. She was responsible for forcing staff to use annual leave when isolating in government mandated hotels during covid while absconding to her large property on the land. Good riddance. How about that remote work policy?
Whether it was Kolola directly or not – The GN desperately needs to adopt a policy which allows for remote workers. The Pandemic proved it can and does work. There is no reason why Nunavut should remain in the 20th Century while the rest of Canada and the World moves forward.
Maybe start with updating their 20th Century staffing processes. The department seems to be in disarray since Mrs. Kolola was appointed to lead the newly created department in 2019. A few examples comes to mind and hard to forget how long it took to get a new collective agreement ratified, vacancy rate across the GN and their very own department is at a record high, lack of expertise internally to deliver support that is desperately needed across the GN, the firing of their very own Minister related to conflict of interest, damming feedback from the Information and Privacy Commissioner and was named one of the worst departments in the GN to adhere to the requirements of the Act…just to name a few. I do wish Mrs. Kolola well in her new role and really do admire her tenacity. She has a lot of experience so hopefully she can put it to good use. I think this is great news for the GN.
It wasn’t just that “she didn’t stop or see a problem with Lightstone hiring his own wife into senior management” she was the one who recommended it in the first place and also assured him that his wife wouldn’t report to him directly so that there wouldn’t be any conflict of interest.
New staff, new corruption. I rest my case (of beer).
Ms. Kolola like many have not held varied management experiences in different areas. Next, Education, College? Need direction. Aimless and lack of leadership.
We see the word “systemic” used a lot to describe problems embedded in the way systems are designed.
It’s unusual to see such a stark example as this (note rarely do people who wield the term ever ground it in the real world).
To your point; this is the system Nunavut wanted, where identity is given priority over education and experience. The defense of the system is that all are weighted the same, but we know that’s rhetoric supporting an illusion.
Gas and Fuel shortages, boil water advisories, water pump station problems, ministers hiring their wives, etc. Maybe the problem is the Premier?