All GN departments are important

I hope your comment “by demoting Peter Kilabuk to the community government and CLEY portfolios” (April 11) was a mistake.

There are 28,000 Nunavummiut living in 25 Nunavut communities who are directly affected by the success or failure of community government and transportation to support municipal governments.

The leadership provided by the minister of CGT will be critical to the future of Nunavut communities. Your choice of words implies that some GN departments are less important than others to Nunavut. We weren’t sure either what your reference to “strengthening the premier’s dominance of the civil service” was all about unless it was in reference to the ADM and DM levels. We thought the civil service worked for Nunavummiut.

There are many GN employees who still believe in the notion that a career in the public service is a worthy ideal. In Kitikmeot, I was honoured to be invited to the GN Long-term Service Awards in Cambridge Bay on March 21. There are many GN employees who are making a positive difference in our daily lives in Kitikmeot communities.

It is a tribute to the GN that they have so many employees across Nunavut who have worked five, 10, 15, 20, 25 and more years for Nunavummiut.

Keith Peterson
Mayor of Cambridge Bay
President
Nunavut Association of Municipalities