Nunavut government still lags in hiring Inuit

The GN has re-profiled some of its jobs to help increase Inuit employment, according to the former minister of human resources, Fred Schell, shown here in the Nunavut legislature last week. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

The Government of Nunavut continues to fall below its targets for Inuit employment.

According to the most recent figures from the GN’s human resources department, 51 per cent of GN jobs are held by Inuit beneficiaries, said Fred Schell, former minister responsible for human resources, in the Nunavut legislature March 8.

But that’s only according to the number of jobs that are filled — the percentage of actual jobs profiled for Inuit stands at only 48 per cent.

“We have re-profiled some of the jobs there to make sure that we put it to the minimum requirements so that more Inuit can apply for these positions,” Schell told the assembly during its committee of the whole discussions.

“We do have that priority hiring policy which is, first we look at the beneficiaries and if they meet the criteria there, then they are the first ones to be interviewed,” he said. “That is our target because we want to increase Inuit employment in the GN. Hopefully by 2020, we will have 85 per cent Inuit employment.”

Inuit employment statistics vary from GN department to department, with as many of 67 per cent of jobs within the department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth held by beneficiaries, while at the Nunavut Housing Corp., only 30 per cent of jobs are held by beneficiaries.

The GN is obligated under Article 23 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement to have a public service that is representative of Nunavut’s population — that is, a public service that has 85 per cent of positions staffed by beneficiaries of the agreement in all occupational categories.

To do this, the GN would need to hire 1,755 new beneficiary employees.

The GN has set an interim target of 53 per cent Inuit employment by the end of this month.

But while the GN still struggles to achieve that goal, Schell maintained the department has made real progress over the years.

Where there were 943 beneficiaries employed by the GN in March of 2001, that number rose to 1,480 by March 2011 — an increase of 60 per cent, Schell noted.

On average, the GN has added 53 new Inuit employees each year, he said.

And the average time to staff a position held by a beneficiary or non-Inuit worker has dropped to 131 days, from the 137 days noted in the 2010 report from the office of the Auditor General, he said.

The department aims to reduce that turnaround time by another 45 days, although access to staff housing continues to slow the process, he said.

Commenting on the departmental review, Quttiktuq MLA Ron Elliott pointed out that Human Resources’ most recent quarterly report on employment was for March 2011.

The department is also due to update its “priority hiring policy” to replace the one that expired in March 2010.

Schell said both of those items would be tabled in the legislature’s spring session, which sits again May 29.

Since the legislature’s winter session ended March 8, Schell has since been removed from ministerial duties by Premier Eva Aariak.

Arviat MLA and Justice Minister Dan Shewchuk regains responsibility for the Department of Human Resources.