Nunavik health officials want equal benefits for Inuit staff

The executive director of Nunavik’s health board, Minnie Grey, left, and human resources director Jean-Étienne Bégin address the commission on relations between Indigenous peoples and certain public services in Quebec on Feb. 13 in Montreal.

Nunavik’s health agency says it needs to offer more incentives and better pay to recruit and retain Inuit employees of the region’s health care system.

Minnie Grey, director of the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, told a Quebec inquiry Feb. 13 that a discrepancy in pay and benefits between its Inuit and non-Inuit employees has created racial tensions and a shortage of much-needed Inuit staff within its health and social service network.

Under their collective agreement, health care staff hired more than 50 kilometres from their residence are entitled to benefits like housing, airfare for their dependents, the transportation of cargo and sometimes a vehicle.

Local Inuit are not entitled to those benefits, valued at about $40,000 a year, Grey told the commission on relations between Indigenous peoples and certain public services in Quebec, called “CERP,” which is hosting hearings in Montreal this week.

“Compared to their counterparts from other organizations, [Inuit] do not receive equal benefits,” Grey said. “And because of this situation, the recruitment and retention of Inuit in the social services network are very problematic.”

The issue is further aggravated by the high turnover among non-Inuit health care staff, who work in the region for an average of only 18 months.

The economically and culturally viable solution to the issue is to hire and retain more local Inuit staff, Grey said.

Grey said the health board has asked the province to review those benefits and proposed the creation of positions specifically for local Inuit, which would offer better pay and benefits.

The provision of benefits for out-of-region workers stems from the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, which outlines that the “working conditions and benefits should be sufficiently attractive to encourage competent personnel from outside the region…”

But in respect to health and social services, section 15.0.21 of the agreement also provides for special education programs targeted at Inuit “to overcome barriers to such employment and advancement.”

While the agreement was negotiated with the well-being of Inuit in mind, the interpretations of those provisions have resulted in “astronomically different benefits” in favour of non-Inuit health workers, the health board’s lawyer, Jean-François Arteau, told the commission.

Housing benefits for non-Inuit have created the biggest gap, he noted, given the shortage and overcrowding of housing units among Inuit families in the region.

“It’s been 40 years [since the agreement was signed] and still it’s difficult for Inuit to have positions that are designed for them,” Arteau said.

“There are still exceptional difficulties with the delivery of services today.”

The Quebec government launched the commission in June 2017, after Indigenous women in Val d’Or came forward to allege they were abused and sexually assaulted by provincial police officers.

The inquiry focuses on how Indigenous Quebecers are served by six specific services: health, social services, correctional services, justice, youth protection and policing.

The commission, chaired by former Quebec Superior Court Justice Jacques Viens, is based in Val d’Or, but is travelling throughout the province this winter and spring, including Montreal this week.

Commission staff are scheduled to visit Kuujjuaq later this month.

Nunavimmiut can arrange to participate in the inquiry in English, French or Inuktitut by calling the commission at 1-844-580-0113 or by visiting its Facebook page.