Rankin will fight the good fight against PPD move

What makes Rankin so special? Because I don’t have the skill to write a book I will answer it thus.

Rankin Inlet is situated on the western shores of Hudson Bay. It isn’t an old community by Nunavut standards, but its history and the history of the surrounding area is as varied as any of the other Nunavut communities that have been around a lot longer.

People of many diverse and unique cultures call Rankin Inlet home. It is a melting pot. Consider that neither of our MLAs were born here and a lot of current residents, both Inuit and non-Inuit, weren’t born here either. But no one really cares where you came from as long as you contribute in some small way to the overall social, economic and some times political fibre of the community, you are welcome.

When people decide to settle down in Rankin Inlet, they do so because it feels like home. It’s like the communities you read about in Reader’s Digest, where something of significance and human triumph happens and you put the Digest down, reflect, and say “Geeze, I would love to go there.”

So you might ask yourself, what makes Rankin Inlet different than any other community? Well, for one thing, it makes us protective of our friends, neighbours and the community. We know who our people are — they are our volunteers, our referees, and people who give love and support when we have been touched by personal or community tragedy. I often wonder, what if the people who were affected by the decentralization initiative in Iqaluit had the support we are giving our residents? Would it have been different?

Rankin Inlet has within its population many Inuit who are highly skilled in financial, administrative, legislative, communications, and community development tasks. Most of the people who will be affected by any initiative to move the PPD to Baker Lake are Inuit who have those skills.

Not only is the government expecting Rankin Inlet to give up the economic benefit provided by our people who work at the PPD, but it is also expecting the community to give up skills and abilities that the Inuit have worked so hard to develop should the incumbents decide to move. To a degree, these are community skills that residents bring to local boards, agencies and organizations that they serve on. It is interesting that your editorial failed to mention that.

Your editorial says: “At the same time, though, many community residents, especially Inuit, now have jobs they might not otherwise have had a chance to get. That’s an indisputable benefit.” My question is, what about the Inuit who are going to lose their jobs because of this ridiculous idea? Is that an indisputable benefit?

I would like to know what or who gives Paul Okalik the authority to make a statement about what is in the best interests of Nunavummiut? Yeah, maybe the Nunavummiut who live in Baker Lake.

It certainly is not in the best interests of almost 10 per cent of the population of Nunavut who live in Rankin Inlet. I would really like to see the cost-benefit analysis and socio-economic studies that he used to make that statement. I suspect it is more in the interests of Okalik and a few others who have vowed to make life miserable should he not support the move. Neither the Ikuma report nor the phase-three plan for decentralization make any mention of moving PPD to Baker Lake, as is pointed out in the letter the Rankin Inlet MLAs wrote to Okalik.

You know what part of your editorial I thought was the most subjective? That Okalik has no choice but to take this position. This is not the first time the government has pressed on anyway. That sounds like Alan Rock and other justice ministers talking about gun control.

You seem to have missed the point of what the community of Rankin Inlet is doing. It’s not only employees, it’s also the citizens, councillors and MLAs who are truly concerned. It’s not just a group of employees. It’s the whole community. You and Okalik just don’t seem to grasp that. What the hell happened to government for the people by the people?

Lastly, you state, “If the PPD transfer to Baker Lake makes economic and administrative sense, then the Government of Nunavut should make it so.” Well, here’s a news flash. It doesn’t make any sense at all. Governments all over the world strive to attain the three “E’s” of effectiveness, efficiency and economy in the quest for good public management when pursuing new initiatives. Lofty paradigms, don’t you think?

The effectiveness of the move of PPD to Baker Lake can only be ascertained by the measurable goals and objectives relating to the mission and mandate statements, as stated and achieved in the business-operating plan of the amalgamated corporation. Making a statement like Okalik made without the benefit of some sort of plan other than a concept, which is basically what Ikuma is, really hints at a hidden agenda.

Determining the efficiency of the move and the amalgamation of PPD and NPC will require an analysis of the relationship of the economy required to achieve the economies required to achieve the effectiveness outlined in the business-operating plan. That will take years.

The economy of the move to Baker Lake will be measured by how much it costs to move and to maintain the effectiveness and efficiency that the PPD in Rankin Inlet now enjoys. I suspect the move will not prove economical at all.

Economically, the government is taking income from Inuit employees in Rankin Inlet and moving that income to another community. The government is incurring relocation expenses that are unnecessary. The government will spend a large amount of money on training and other development costs in the other community, because the Rankin Inlet residents will not go.

Either that, or the people who will fill those jobs will not be Inuit. It could be that’s the intent. Maybe the $19 million the government hopes to save on its latest tender will be the final price-tag on the amalgamation.

In administration, the government will create a dog’s breakfast, with file transfers for at least six months. They will lose or misplace vital files and data during the move and the government will lose the corporate memory that the current employees of the PPD have accumulated over the years.

I believe the Nunavut Implementation Commission’s mandate on decentralization was flawed from the beginning. The intent should have been to provide employment to the intended decentralized communities that was more friendly to the natural, cultural and geophysical environment.

All those resources that have been pissed away on the implementation of Footprints could have been used to develop and create self-sustaining jobs and industry in ventures more appropriate to the natural skills, abilities, history and geography of the intended communities.

I am pretty sure that if you asked the people of Baker Lake if they would prefer to have the PPD moved there with 16 administrative jobs, or take $5 million to improve and create new arts, crafts, tourism opportunities and other sustainable community industries, they would take the $5 million. Not everyone in Nunavut wants to be a bureaucrat.

In closing, I would like to tell the employees of PPD in Rankin Inlet to not worry too much. Your community will keep fighting the good fight on your behalf.

The next election will see the politicians who are intent on disrupting your life gone and clearer heads will prevail. The next legislative assembly of Nunavut will ensure that the community, the social fabric and a true sustainable economy within Nunavut are the highest priorities.

Robert Janes
Rankin Inlet