PM Trudeau names new boss for a diminished CanNor

Through the Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development program, which operates under CanNor, the federal government has contributed to multiple economic enterprises in communities across the three northern territories. The SINED program is listed has having been sunsetted, but was renewed this year (SCREEN GRAB FROM CANNOR WEBSITE)

(Corrected 6 a.m. Oct. 3)

Paula Isaak, a federal civil servant with at least 15 years of management experience at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, will become the new president of a diminished Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this past Friday.

Isaak replaces Janet King, a veteran civil servant who has served as the head of CanNor since June 2014.

A biography supplied by the prime minister’s office says Isaak, who has a B.A. from the University of Manitoba and an M.A. from Carleton University, has held senior management jobs at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada since 2000.

It’s not clear what King will do now, but her LinkedIn profile says she’s been working as an associate deputy minister at Public Works and Procurement Canada since August 2018.

CanNor is similar to federal economic development handout organizations like the Western Diversification Fund and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

When it started up in 2009, it brought many pre-existing federal funding programs under one roof, such as SINED (Strategic Investments in Northern Economic Development), various Indigenous economic development and training programs, and federal official languages funding for the North.

Another important part of CanNor is the Northern Project Management Office, also known as the NPMO, based in Yellowknife, which helps resource developers steer their way through the northern regulatory system.

Agency starts 2018-19 with an apparent loss of funding

CanNor has spent between about $46 million and $53 million a year since 2014-15.

But this year, its approved budget will drop dramatically, to about $23.9 million, according to its 2018-19 business plan, available online.

But that figure does not include an additional $20 million announced for the agency’s SINED program this past June, an amount contained in the federal government’s 2018 budget.

Starting in 2018-19, it appeared as if the federal government would “sunset” the $19.8 million SINED program, along with funding for some other CanNor components.

“Sunset” is government jargon for the non-renewal of a recurring spending program.

The SINED funding program, which has been used to support projects like the Kenojuak Cultural Centre and Print Shop in Cape Dorset and the Nunavut Fisheries and Marine Training Consortium, was created by the Liberal government of Paul Martin in 2004.

The $20 million recently announced for SINED’s renewal does not yet show in the federal government’s main estimates.

One program that is discontinued is the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program, whose elimination will strip $6.4 million from CanNor’s budget.

CanNor’s annual budget is expected to drop this year from last year’s, the budget documents suggest.

It’s also not clear if Isaak will reside in Iqaluit, where the “head office” of CanNor is supposed to have been located after the Conservative government of Stephen Harper established the agency.

But CanNor, which also maintains offices in Yellowknife and Whitehorse, has struggled to maintain an office in Iqaluit, where it has suffered from many of the same capacity and staffing issues that plague other Nunavut-based organizations.

In 2015, a report by the auditor general of Canada found that CanNor had filled only 15 of 32 jobs at its Iqaluit office, and that its president, a vice-president of planning and policy and a senior advisor for Inuit community relations were all located in Ottawa.

An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about the SINED program. Although CanNor’s budget documents state the program was to have sunsetted, the federal government announced this past June that the program will be renewed at $20 million a year. That $20 million is not yet reflected in CanNor’s published information. CanNor says that “decisions regarding the extension, reduction or enhancement of programs and funding will be reflected in the agency’s future budget and estimate documents.”

CanNor’s Iqaluit office is a major tenant inside the Allavvik building, owned by Qikiqtaaluk Properties Ltd., a subsidiary of Qikiqtaaluk Corp. The building opened to much fanfare on June 21, 2012. CanNor is getting a new president, Paula Isaak. (FILE PHOTO)