Nunavut resident says new GN hiring restrictions go too far

This image by Nick Newbery of Jessica and Tukya Pishuktie, showing the diversity of Nunavut, was widely circulated on a government poster when Nunavut was created.

If you’re looking at Nunavut government job postings, you may notice something you’ve never seen before — because it will tell you that you can’t now apply for jobs for which you might otherwise be qualified.

That’s because some jobs are now subject to a Department of Human Resources directive adopted by the territorial cabinet in September 2015 — Directive 518 — which allows the Government of Nunavut to restrict competitions for jobs by limiting the eligibility of certain candidates to specific ethnic and geographic criteria. 

The new restrictions can lead to competitions available only to Inuit who are beneficiaries of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, internal competitions for GN employees only, or to a beneficiaries-by-location only competition.

“This process supports the GN’s commitment to the Priority Hiring Policy,” says the directive, which applies to all GN positions except deputy heads and those who are members of the Nunavut Teachers Association.

A job-seeker in Nunavut who is a long-time resident of Nunavut, but not an NCLA beneficiary, recently noticed that restrictive directive attached to several GN job postings.

With no steady work and lots of bills to pay, he’s looking for a government job to help support his family, and questions the new directive — since the GN already has a priority hiring policy in place for Inuit.

That policy states “Consistent with Article 23 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, the Government of Nunavut shall create a public service that is representative of the population of Nunavut” — that is, about 85 per cent Inuit.

The latest report tabled by the GN on Inuit employment in the public service put the proportion of Inuit at about 50 per cent.

The resident, who did not want to be identified because he is worried that comments to Nunatsiaq News might hurt his employment chances with the GN, said these new GN restrictions “go a step too far.”

“I understand the need for priority hiring. I am not suggesting we should get rid of it,” he said, reached by Nunatsiaq News at his home, where, as is typical in Nunavut homes, you could hear the sound of Inuktitut-language radio and children playing in the background.

Limiting job competitions by ethnicity — which isn’t the same thing as affirmative action to encourage employment among of underrepresented groups — is dangerous, he said.

Job competitions based on skills and experience, instead of race, would lead to a more effective government, he said.

That would encourage non-Inuit candidates to, for example, learn Inuktitut to qualify for GN jobs where speaking Inuktitut is a big asset.

Among the criteria for restricted competitions spelled out in the new directive is that the “nature of the position” or previous searches for similar positions have resulted “in a number of strong candidates demonstrating a large pool of beneficiary candidates.”

If that’s so, the job-seeker said it should not be necessary to restrict competitions for such jobs to beneficiaries because they’ll apply anyway.

Overall, the directive separates people in Nunavut, “which wasn’t created solely for Inuit. A common misconception is that the GN is there only for Inuit,” said the job-seeker, who has an extended family living in the territory, where he attended school and plans to bring up his children.

A posting for a job described as Director, Minerals and Petroleum Resources says “as per HRM Directive 518, this employment opportunity is restricted to Nunavut Land Claim[s] Beneficiaries only.”

“I don’t see how this position is tied to race,” said the job-seeker, adding there are some positions that would be best filled by Inuit, such as director of the Piqqusilirivik cultural school.

As well, in Nunavut there are many members of visible minorities who come from places like Africa, Asia and South America, and who are already disadvantaged when they seek work.

The new directive is a double-whammy for them — disadvantaging visible minorities who are already disadvantaged, he said.

Visible minorities are covered by the federal government’s Affirmative Action Program, so, in Nunavut, they could be able to more easily find employment with the federal government than with the GN, when Directive 518 is applied.

The Northwest Territories has an affirmative action policy that offers priority hiring to candidates “belonging to eligible designated groups that are under-represented within the Public Service” — and this includes people like the Nunavut job-seeker who were born or have lived “more than half their lives” in the territory.

Candidates receiving priority for NWT government jobs include Indigenous Aboriginal people, qualifying Indigenous non-Aboriginal persons, resident disabled persons and resident women.

While the job-seeker said he doesn’t expect people to feel sorry for Nunavut’s poor whites, “we have to call out on racism when we see it.”

“It’s the future of Nunavut,” he said, adding that the directive goes against the spirit of Nunavut, by favouring exclusion and division over collaboration and inclusion, and by feeding into the sense of entitlement keeps many youth in Nunavut from finishing school.

Directive 518: Restricted Competitions to Cabinet Sept 2 15 English by NunatsiaqNews