Veteran Nunavut civil servant dies in London, Ont.

Mike Ferris, a highly-respected civil servant in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, died Dec. 24 in London, Ont. (FILE PHOTO)

Rev. Mike Ferris, 68, a veteran civil servant in the eastern Arctic who served for many years within the governments of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, died suddenly Dec. 24 at University Hospital in London, Ont.

Ferris served as Baffin regional superintendent for the NWT Department of Municipal and Community Affairs throughout most of the 1980s and 1990s.

He was also an Anglican minister who conducted weekly Bible study groups.

In April 1986, his teenaged son Brent died on the land near Iqaluit with a companion after getting lost in a blizzard while out snowmobiling.

After the ensuing search, which did not turn up any sign of the missing pair, Ferris devoted his energies to the creation of better emergency response and search and rescue systems in the region.

In 1998, the Office of the Interim Commissioner for Nunavut appointed Ferris deputy minister of Community Government and Services for the new territory.

In that role, Ferris was instrumental in carrying out the decentralized administrative model set out in the Nunavut Implementation Commission’s Footprints 2 report.

Ferris retired from the Nunavut public service in 2002, when he was succeeded as deputy minister of CGS by John Walsh.

A private memorial service for him was held Jan. 3 at the chapel of Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in London, Ont.

Ferris leaves his wife Rhonda; daughter Kerry Ferris; grandchildren Rosina, Amanda and Colleen; and great-grandchildren Catherine and Myra.

The family says memorial contributions may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Information about making donations is available here.