Nunavik leaders: why aren’t more Inuit filling KRG jobs?

The Kativik Regional Government’s headquarters in Kuujjuaq. Today, Inuit make up 65 per cent of the organization’s workforce, but it’s elected members want to see more local hires. (FILE PHOTO)

KUUJJUAQ — Kativik Regional Government councillors say they want to see more Inuit employees filling jobs at Nunavik’s main administrative body.

Councillors said at regional council meetings last week that they’re concerned Inuit are applying for jobs within the regional government and not getting them.

“We always say that we want to see more Inuit,” Kuujjuaq councillor Jennifer Watkins told meetings Sept. 16.

“I know there were Inuit who applied [for positions] and were not hired.”

The issue is a sticking point for many regional leaders who, despite the KRG’s 65-per-cent Inuit workforce, say there are still too many positions filled by southern recruits.

But it’s not just staff positions Nunavik councillors want to see filled by local people, but management positions at the regional government, 33 per cent of which are currently held by Inuit.

“We will always be here. We are Nunavimmiut,” Watkins said. “For that reason, we should be in those positions. They can do the job. Just train them.”

The KRG says it’s trying.

In 2013, the KRG’s human resources department launched a succession management plan, to help prepare its Inuit employees to eventually move into senior positions.

The strategy targets veteran staffers who are willing and able to take part, mentored by current department heads.

KRG chair Maggie Emudluk pointed to four Inuit who have moved into leadership roles at the organization in the past year.

“We have to make sure [Inuit] can succeed in where they want to be,” Emudluk said.

“It’s hard as a leader, because you want to make sure as many Inuit as possible are staffed at our regional organizations.”

As part of Parnasimautik consultations across the region, Nunavimmiut said they want to design and deliver their own programs and services.

“So let’s keep trying,” Emudluk said. “If we want to reach our goal, our future, we have to be part of it.”

Emudluk said the organization is still looking for an Inuk candidate to move into the role of director general, currently held by Isabelle Parizeau.

Parizeau, who was an assistant director at KRG, has served as director since Jobie Tukkiapik left that job in early 2012.

“We have an excellent, mostly Inuit staff,” Parizeau told KRG meetings last week. “[Recruiting more Inuit staff] is a goal and we’re constantly working in that direction.”

Isabelle Proulx, the head of human resources at the KRG, told councillors that all job openings are posted in each of the communities.

And the KRG’s selection committee, who advises the executive on new hires, always include Inuit members, she added.