Conflict of interest costs Lightstone his cabinet portfolios
Integrity commissioner finds Lightstone’s spouse took acting deputy minister post on advice from HR department’s top staffer
Adam Lightstone, seen speaking in Nunavut’s legislative assembly, stepped aside from his ministerial portfolios Monday after an integrity commissioner report concluded there was a conflict of interest when his spouse was appointed the acting deputy minister in a department Lightstone oversaw last December. (File photo by Mélanie Ritchot)
Nunavut cabinet minister Adam Lightstone has lost his cabinet portfolios following a conflict of interest in which his spouse was appointed to a senior acting position — for less than a week — in one of the Government of Nunavut departments he led.
Nunavut’s integrity commissioner, Katherine Peterson’s investigation into the issue was made public on Monday. A GN news release said Lightstone was “stepping aside” from his cabinet roles, including as Minister of Human Resources and Minister of Finance, following the release of Peterson’s report.
Lightstone, the MLA for Iqaluit-Manirajak became minister of finance and minister of human resources after last fall’s territorial election.
Lorne Kusugak, already Nunavut’s housing minister, took on the added duty of finance minister. Family Services Minister Margaret Nakashuk became minister of human resources, the government release said.
Lightstone’s conflict of interest involved the appointment of his spouse, Hilary Burns, who was the director of employee relations and job evaluation at the Department of Human Resources to acting deputy minister, the department’s second-highest position. A deputy minister is the top staff position in a government department, outranked only by the minister, who is the elected politician appointed to oversee its operations.
Burns was acting in the deputy minister’s position for about five days last December, the report states.
Because Lightstone was not the one to suggest she get the position, and because he showed concerns about the situation, Peterson recommended Lightstone be reprimanded by the legislative assembly and that he publicly acknowledge his conduct.
Peterson’s report notes Lightstone’s spouse was only in the position for a short period.
She also noted the Human Resources Department has been chronically understaffed, and while other employees had been asked to take the deputy minister position, they had declined. But nobody checked if a senior staff member from another department could take on the role, Peterson said.
Peterson also considered that Lightstone’s approval of Burns’ appointment was based on advice given by his most senior staff member, permanent deputy minister Sheila Kolola, and Lightstone himself had only recently come into his role as minister.
The integrity commissioner’s report shows Kolola decided that Burns was the best person to fill in for her as deputy minister based on her skills and experience.
“In consultation with her Assistant Deputy Minister, Ms. Kolola was advised that the acknowledged conflict of interest could be addressed by having an alternate reporting pathway — namely that her acting Deputy Minister would not have direct contact or communication with the Minister regarding matters which arose,” the report states.
On the other hand, Peterson said there were multiple times Lightstone should have sought more advice and that staffing shortages, the appointment’s brief duration and his Burns’ pending resignation from the department didn’t counter the “apparent” conflict of interest.
In the end, even though there was no evidence of any benefit or advancement of the private interests of either Lightstone or Burns, Peterson said the situation still presents a conflict of interest in the eyes of the public.
Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok’s office said Lightstone has stepped away from all his portfolios effective immediately, in a Monday news release.
Akeeagok first announced on March 8 in the legislature that he would refer the issue to the integrity commissioner, the day after allegations of a conflict of interest were brought up by George Hickes, the MLA for Iqaluit–Tasiluk and Arviat South MLA Joe Saviataaq
Peterson’s report said Akeeagok never had a formal discussion with his newly elected ministers about appointing people to positions like these and he didn’t explicitly ask them to disclose possible conflicts of interest before making assignments.
Lightstone told Peterson he had casual discussions with Akeeagok before he was appointed the Minister of Human Resources and told him that his spouse worked there.
Peterson said Akeeagok does not remember whether Lightstone told him his spouse worked in a senior Human Resources position.
“There are some discrepancies in the recollections of [Lightstone] and the Premier on this issue,” Peterson states.
Lightstone was the minister responsible for Human Resources, Finance, the Workers Safety and Compensation Commission and the Liquor Licensing Board.
The legislative assembly must now reconvene to consider and respond to the integrity commissioner’s report within 10 days.
Oh that wacky Dept of HR!
Kolola protected. Is it not her that oversaw this?
Is this like the Keenainak or Sanders times?
But seriously…
Why is no one (Premier Akeeagok included) able to recognize where the problem actually lies?
Someone was given the assignment of creating a brand new Dept of HR with many months to put policies and procedures in place, so they should be able to show progress right? Instead, Nunavummiut and the public service have seen excuse, after excuse, after excuse, as to why this Department cannot avoid controversy and continues to underperform.
That person still leads this department. What a track record!
-Removed as President of Nunavut Arctic College after 10 months; amid rumours of controversial performance and constant conflict with staff
-Unable to negotiate a collective agreement after more than 3 years. The NEU proves bad faith practices with specific emails (name was reported by Nunatsiaq News)
-GN staffing at an all-time low
-GN HR is responsible for all other department’s Inuit Employment Plans yet the Dept of HR itself does not have an Inuit Employment Plan!
-Staff Housing Allocation meetings have been cancelled by HR many more times than they’ve actually met
-Hundreds of currently vacant staff units assigned to competitions throughout the territory; waiting months and months for HR staffing
-Bad advice to a promising young cabinet minister who has now lost his portfolios
If there needs to be a change (for the better), it might be time to address the real problem.
The Department of HR has an Inuit Employment Plan. Here’s the link: https://gov.nu.ca/sites/default/files/hr_iep_to_2023_final.pdf
I have some sympathy for Mr. Lightstone; throughout his life in Nunavut, he would have seen nepotism as a standard practice, no doubt having benefited directly himself. I also accept that he would most likely have been extremely hesitant to appoint his spouse to a position that could be in-conflict.
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Additionally, perhaps his spouse, Ms. Burns, is fully qualified to act as ADM, as she might have been fully qualified in her role as Director of Employee Relations and Job Evaluation at the Department of Human Resources. Perhaps the Premier’s task is so large and his own staff so sparse, that he wasn’t informed by them that the Minister’s spouse held a senior position in the HR department. Perhaps too, if the Minister did so advise the Premier, he forgot, or deemed the information irrelevant, or expected.
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In any given community in the Territory, a dozen or so local families rotate and otherwise monopolize all GN, Hamlet, LHO, IA, EA, and HTO positions and appointments. In addition, they are often favored for housing. This has occurred for the better part of five generations.
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Finally, one has to wonder about Sheila Kolola, who has been in deputy minister positions for nearly a decade – was that an acceptable and typical quality of advice she gives to her Minister?
“perhaps his spouse, Ms. Burns, is fully qualified to act as ADM”
I can’t quite shake this point either. It could very well be that she was a great pick for this position and, given the scarcity of people willing and able to do it, she may have been the best pick. Intuitively, something seems wrong with a system that excludes ability and talent.
good point about the head DM who gave the advice and “okay”. Why is that being overlooked?
Maybe they just happened to be two people married in a small town. I’ve worked with her and she knows her stuff. HR is a gong show and would be happy to have her. I can say that long-standing problems persisted under the former DM.
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Too bad, I guess the remote work policy he championed last week will be kiboshed.
After putting up with Lightstone questioning their judgements for years, Saviataaq and Hickes were probably laughing pretty hard today.
They are putting on a clinic for the rookies, that is for sure.
Yes, I agree. I don’t understand why Mr. Hickes had to go to that level instead of personally going to Mr. Lightstone himself. I mean, Mr. Savitak… of course, he has no morals when it comes to things like this so its super understandable when he does things the way he does. disgraceful on these two people.
it is time that voters quit voting for GH and the likes but to vote for those who have action to do good work.
Is an uproar needed to request that the DM is also in this same light, one who allowed this to happen.
Proud of Lightstone. The old guys Savikataaq and George Hickes must hate young leaders
I doubt it is about youth per sea, but might look that way because Adam’s weakness has long been youthful idealism decoupled from the realities of the world around it in ways so obvious and profound as to make being on its receiving end an unending and exhausting bore.
This.
More like how did George and Savikataaq know? Who told them. Their trusted staff were still in key positions, so collaborating took place between George and Savikataaq and their trusted sources
Tell us why anyone should care how they knew? How is it relevant to the former Ministers unethical behavior?
Setup – gave away your cheap nature I guess
Or maybe you did, you seem to prefer secrecy and the honor of the quiet lips club to the truth? You prefer lies to knowledge? Who is the ‘cheap one’ here?
good to bring these to surface. example, QEC pres if he hired his father law. is that conflict.
Maybe they just don’t like incompetence, nepotism and seeing MLAs in way over their heads?
Regardless of whether he “suggested” it, he approved it. This shows a clear lack of judgement, and he should be removed from the executive council.
They had better not blame this on some nameless public servants. This was Adam’s call, and he blew it. He should not be allowed to head up the department that is supposed to be responsible for setting policy related to transparent hiring practices for the GN.
Now we understand why all four sections of Bill 4 were defeated in the Legislature. It was a demonstration that either Adam resigns, or the government would be defeated.
Nice work, George. You’ve shown us that, no matter his technical qualifications, Adam is new to politics and no match for someone of your skills.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game…
Accountability!? In Nunavut!?! Somebody pinch me!
I’m shocked that Lightstone was even assigned a Department where his wife was employed as a member of the senior management team (Director of employee relations). Even that initial scenario was inappropriate and arguably put him in a conflict. I’m also surprised that no one in EIA at the outset was aware of his wife’s position at HR and able to advise the Premier that Lightstone should either be assigned a different portfolio or his wife should be transferred somewhere else.
I agree. It should have been fully disclosed when he was being considered for Minister of HR that his wife was a top director in the same department. He should have disclosed it and the Premeir should have known that but the issue I have with Nunavut is that there is too much corruption and bad faith practices with leadership and there is ZERO accountability.
Lightstone should NOT have been appointed Minister of HR when it was known his wife Hilary was a top employee relations Director there. Everyone involved was wrong and we need to start blowing the whistle more on the corruption in Nunavut as the corruption is rampant. Also word of advice: Never trust GN HR or Employee Relations- they do nothing to help support vulnerable staff and will only protect bad management AKA their family and friends.
Poor judgement on the senior management’s part. Both DM and ADM and in HR to boot! This happens in a situation where inexperienced, unseasoned managers are promoted too quickly – all backgrounds okay? Not just… ok, women, men, qallunaat, inuit and other. We have seen that over the years. There is also poor communication skills and with people of all backgrounds – verbal and written. When there has been such a fast revolving door in this government here, there is bound to be mishaps. Enough is enough. This implies, training. My own boss at the time denied my training request cause ‘they were’ very insecure. Now they’re a politician.
This shows a MASSIVE lack of judgment on behalf of Lightstone and his spouse. They are not passive participants – they actively participated in what is clearly a conflict of interest from which their individual household would benefit from. Good riddance if this was how the newbie Minister was going to govern his portfolios.
If we cannot even trust the Human Resources department to be ethical and act in integrity – who can we trust? It was unethical of Hilary to consider taking the Acting Deputy position knowing her husband was the Minister! And It was unethical for Lightstone to stay silent about it because he knew about it! Corrupt Corrupt Corrupt ! This should never have been allowed nor approved and all the people involved should be dismissed. These are the people in GN HR leadership conducting fact findings and investigations about GN staff? No one should have faith in HR or Employee Relations at the GN because all they do is go over and beyond to protect bad management and hire their family and friends. The GN is corrupt! There are lots of Ministers hiring their families in their department for positions when it is a clear conflict of interest. CORRUPT! Kudos to the person that blew the whistle and I hope more people do the same.
You are bang on with your comment, The spouse is the head of Employee Relations, who is responsible for holding the GN personnel to account on Conflict of Interest. Clearly lacking expertise and integrity in that regard and I find it hard to believe that they didn’t know better. You have to wonder if she was truly qualified to take on such a role if she didn’t understand that fundamental concept. I guess it is now QEC’s problem. Maybe time to look into whether or not she received a promotion after this came to light. I’m pretty sure their top HR job is located in Baker Lake. Hummm! Now how did that happen?! As for the DM, did you really expect anything different. All you have to do is look at her track record and how she performed at NAC. If the Department of Human Resources senior personnel can’t be held accountable for this embarrassing situation, what message are you sending to all other senior personnel across the GN. I feel for Mr, Lightstone, not a good way to start the role as a Minister but I’m sure it will be a lesson learned. The Integrity Commissioner’s report was interesting.
If they are fact finding, please look at the mental health and addictions section at health.. . Corruption right there……
I feel for Adam and even more sad for the one who moved a job from IQ to RI for a spouse in the same department that Adam had stepped out from and…living in a public unit fScary situation with PJ having no recollection and with the same breath says he broke no policies when he was being questioned. Hope lesson is learnt from small lies that can cause to spread like wild fire
Who is living in a public unit?
Former HR minister now minister of Housing,
Isn’t that conflict too?
So the government says there is real shortage of housing and the current minister of housing has a tax payer subsidized housing unit in Rankin Inlet and lives in Iqaluit for free in ministerial housing as will. A minister makes a lot of money and he is in public housing? Something wrong is really wrong here.
It’s called entitlement and social privilege, typically done in the shadows, it will never see any more light than your comment has cast upon it.
Sorry Adam you have been attacked with comments and we all know you are a good MLA and wanted to make a difference. Keep up the good work and these are the people who praised in the past. However , if you have HR managers who wanted to support DM,s vindictive decisions during fact finding meetings, to rip peoples lives away needs to change. HR and Employee Relations are corrupted and UNW can’t do anything.
I totally agree that we have to have connections to get jobs in Govt of Nunavut. It’s very evident that EA ,s son and daughters get high profile jobs in Justice is also a conflict of interest , look at the trends and hope that Ethics Commissioners look at this nepotism as well.
Unqualified people sit in remote communities and collect tax payers money for not doing nothing, when is Nunavut going to be a better place to work ? No one takes the harassment complaints seriously as they do not know the process and show the arrogance of DM and EA with there half knowledge putting good into troubles people like Adam and enjoy the show.
George Hicks is a great politician, what did he do when he was a Minister responsible for suicide prevention in Nunavut? Did anyone ask why no improvements? Despite of dedicating millions ? What happened and how those funds spent? It’s a drama and no one is going to do anything , so go and have a glass of wine .
speaking of corruption in justice when are they going to stop throwing money for nothing at retired wardens who live down south to consult people who took over there jobs with no qualification and just hide in office scared all day. messed up system needs to be looked at
All of you know …by fact that every Nunavut community is run by a family conglomerate, we the lowly are humble but our leaders are so greedy . A family member is connected through different departments and it goes on and on everywhere. Never fair for the common folk to try enter there domains for a job as you know “they” know you have better credentials and ethics that may “ surpass “ some of their relatives already in the workforce, you either have to be a nonresident alien for them jobs because the government hiring policies are in a sad state of affairs …,or as the usual case ..,being known by relations that are already in a government department ! We the Inuit are led towards poverty more and more as the government don’t seem to know what to do. meanwhile Our MLA is unheard of yet he collects a salary most people dream about sitting on his ass laughing down at us marginalized common folk who are not related to any government employees or any other organization for that matter. Time to break down into separate regions in this territory so we can have a self government established for the people
…But none for me.
People still think the old guys just wanted their old jobs back. But they are just following the same damn rules that have been there since day 1 of Nunavuts creation.
But people only think of the Baffinmiut/Kivalliq hatred. Get over it and work together to make Nunavut as great as it can be. Cannot say Make Nunavut Great Again. We’re a baby territory.
and she gets reused and recycled, she is with QEC now.
She is a great professional employee and was disappointed to see her leave. She did have too much on her plate due to low capacity. HR needs more professional like her and QEC is lucky to have her. Ajunngittualuk
wow how dumb is that? even a person like me barely grade 10 would know it would be a conflict of interest in hiring your spouse.
The sad part is the Premier knew it so this really shows in the political world its personal gain first and the people second .
we seen this right from the beginning when politicians wanted to separate from NWT and here it is.
Interesting that the way the story reads is that a Jr. Minister ignorant of the policies in place. Lightstone is not a little boy, act as an adult. He was an MLA for 4 years and he would have been the first person to attack a Minister for doing this. Between the two of them common sense should have kicked in. I see this as a person in a Minister’s position who figures he is untouchable. However he take a jab at the HR staff by saying they are incompetent, there are many qualified people in the department, I would like to see the list of people that he says would not step up to the position.
Having said this, the story stinks of more than just a Minister doing something stupid, I think it is also ignorant of the Premier to not fully understand what was happening and is throwing the Minister under the bus to cover his own inaction.
The Premier knows fulling that this is not the end of the story and hopefully realizes that this could effect his position. Do we need a Premier who don’t remember conversations with key cabinet Ministers? Did the conversation happen between Adam and PJ, this will come out in the wash.
PJ is lacking senior staff who should be giving proper advice. One can’t continually hire people from his previous work and expect this government works the same as the Inuit orgs. Some senior staff were already in the same position previously for a short time. Wasn’t there a Premier Quassa at some time. This would never have happened in the previous government and I can guarantee it won’t happen again.
Time to do better. This is not a family run business.
Ironically, our Government lost considerably more by disallowing Burns to be DM than it did by Lightstone losing his portfolios.
I’m delighted to see the Integrity Commissioner viewed this as a clear conflict and ruled fairly, although she missed a critical point. Her flaw was to suggest that neither Mr. Burns nor his wife stood to gain. Directly or indirectly, intended or not, this would have absolutely padded Ms. Burns’s resume and helped move her up the pecking order for the next time the GN was hiring or creating an ADM position or needing a new DM.
People who take on Acting assignments do it to fill gaps, but they also do it to gain experience. HR staff know that better than anyone. It’s even written into many of their reports about employee promotion, retention etc.; it’s how people climb the ladder, so let’s not discount that.
The Minister of all people knows that, and I’m sure sensed it was a good deal for his wife and family overall, so he was easily lulled into accepting pretty horrendous advice from his department’s most senior staff.
It’s always easier to look away or let your guard down when it clearly helps you or your family. That’s why the very public role of Minister comes with such high scrutiny.
Adam, you can redeem yourself, but you need to sit on the sidelines for a good while and learn to crawl before you walk.
“A temptation resisted is a true measure of character” Dega.
Buzz Lightstone just had his portfolios removed which means he will have nothing to do but collect the same pay still and accrue pensionable benefits. They really showed him…
Inexperience shows on both the Premier and Minister. Premeir should have stripped him of his portfolios when he found out on day one. It will be an interesting spring sitting.
The GN continually putting their foot inti their mouths. When Nunavut was created, it was for the people by the people. Where are the incentives, the support to ensure there is stable workforce from within the territory? Aasin comments like she was the only qualified person available in 2021. 2 decades after the creation of Nunavut, the majority are still just living off welfare and raising children as kids, while families of qualified transients work the various positions available.
When the Leg next meets there will be demands that Adam and PJ resign from Cabinet. If they resign from Cabinet, or if they don’t resign from Cabinet, the MLAs will have a leadership forum. Adam and PJ will be replaced in Cabinet by George and Joe.
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There is an alternative.
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PJ and Adam could choose to resign as MLAs. The Deputy Premier could run the government with a smaller Cabinet. PJ and Adam could run in by-elections. If PJ and Adam get re-elected, there could then be a Leadership forum which could returm them to Cabinet.
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It’s called “getting voter approval”.
Lots of dancing and what ifs. Bottom line she should have not been appointed.
Mr Lightstone is held to higher standard just by being a MLA. . He should have realized that by allowing his wife to take this position, no matter for how long. It would not only look bad but was wrong.
The Premier now has to save face and show leadership. He should instantly remove Lightstone from cabinet. Plus any public servants involved should be fired or demoted.
Send a message now Mr Premier that corruption will not be tolerated. This is your chance to show the people of Nunavut. That you will provide them with honest leadership.
“He should instantly remove Lightstone from cabinet.”…the Premier cannot remove anyone from cabinet; he can only remove their portfolios. It is the MLAs responsibility to remove him, which will probably happen in the near future. The way I see it, there are four people who knew, or damn well should have known this was happening, and they should have known this was a conflict. And they should have put a stop to it immediately. How they even conceived such an idea is astounding! So far, only one person has been punished for it. Will that be enough?
Adam is green. Just look at his comments on the $20M they gave the airlines. How the airlines had repaid the GN. Nobody repaid anybody anything. Period. As far as HR is concerned…..everybody knows its a mess. Period, full stop.
Inuit tearing down Inuit, will it ever end. The nunavut dream just gets worse.
This is not a race issue. It is a conflict of interest, judgment and transparency issue. Obviously, by your comment, you’re missing the point.
For a lot of Inuit there is only one lens through which the world can be observed, unfortunately.
Ok after reading most of the comments above, lots of people want to throw Lightstone under the bus. I’m not particularly a political person but he was a young man trying to make his way in a small town and yes maybe he did something wrong and lets all agree it was a small thing, (she was there 5 days as DM) but should he be hung and quartered for this, I think not! Was there anything good that came out of this? Like really good? Again, I think not! Lets leave the poor guy alone, we all make mistakes in life.
Really? “Young man”? He’s 35 years old. That’s well passed the age in which one can claim “youthful inexperience” as an excuse.
He’s also been an MLA for years now. If he doesn’t understand basic ethics at this point, he never will. He should be removed from office.
Why punish Adam setting him aside when a job position was transferred from IQ to RI for a spouse who happens to be minister of housing living rent free in two separate communities for many years? Then PJ denying twice, where he had no involvement with hiring Adams wife and with the same breath says he does not have a recollection with discussing that he had with Adam? Make up your minds already!
Rights and wrongs aside….a Minister, in particular a new Minister is heavily reliant on the advice provided to them by their senior departmental staff. The DM of HR provided HR advice to the Minister of HR that was fundamentally flawed. When the Minister questioned that advice, he was assured that the alternative reporting arrangement proposed by the most Senior member of the HR department would be sufficient to avoid conflict of interest. So, if you’re the next Minister of HR, how are you going to feel about the advice you’re being given by your most senior bureaucrat?
i dont care what anyone says..he signed off on it and should have known better..this is just his true colors surfacing..hes even 2 faced..months of harrassing as reg MLA about staffhousing to turn and say nothing going to be done with it as minister resposible..just resign all toghter ..and get out
Hickes and Savikataaq had to mentioned it if no one was. It’s pure common sense!!
1. It’s downright conflict of Interest
2. No one else to blame besides Sheila Kolola. She knew very well this was conflict of interest when she asked Miss Burns to act.
I’m surprise with all the BS with HR HQ she hasn’t been replace yet ?
Fire them all … you cannot teach old dogs new tricks .
Always some scandal with Nunavut Government. I guess you leave integrity and honesty behind to govern Nunavut?
And not a single soul was surprised by this news.
Adam Lightstone has long been one of the worst MLAs in the entire country – never mind the Nunavut Legislature alone. Naming him to cabinet was a horrible decision on the choice of the Premier.
I feel bad for Adam and even more sad for Nunavut, he had so much to offer to make the government better. I also seen Kolola in action at the NAC and what a waste of tax payers money…
“The Gong Show” in Nunavut. Laughing stock in the political arena.
the source of the bad advice, DM Sheila Kolola, is reportedly now back as HRs DM. No consequences?
Best candidate for the position; or best friend for the candidate?
You all love a good gossip story.
Take a look at some of the other stories being reported on incredibly important issues shaping our territory
Comments? Very few.
Here? It’s a bloodbath.
It’s very clear where your priorities are and it’s not for making things better
Correct. You should go check out some of the taxi driver articles and see what ‘priorities’ there are, especially the FB comments
If Adam is removed, that will be the end of all his photo ops which I will not miss! He and John were always media seeking attention, now PJ is living his photoops, both personal and work! Take it easy guys, you’ll do fine if you leave photo ops out!
That is corruption….
The public housing system is still fk’d up.