Family wellness services reduced in 7 North Baffin communities
Staffing shortages cited with service expected to return at full capacity July 7
The Department of Family Services says residents in seven Nunavut communities will see reduced child and family wellness services effective immediately, lasting until July 7. (File photo)
Child and family wellness services in seven North Baffin communities are being temporarily reduced due to staffing shortages.
The communities affected are Arctic Bay, Clyde River, Igloolik, Pangnirtung, Pond Inlet, Qikiqtarjuaq and Sanirajak, the Department of Family Services said in a public service announcement Tuesday.
The service reductions are effective immediately and will continue until July 7 when they’re expected to return at full capacity.
In the announcement, the department said services for Arctic Bay, Clyde River, Qikiqtarjuaq and Sanirajak will be covered remotely during this time, with delays possible.
Information on how to contact community Family Wellness offices is on the Government of Nunavut website.
The Government of Nunavut is struggling under the current photo-op based administration, and years of social promotion have only compounded the problem.
It’s time for Nunavut to adopt a merit-based system and move away from social promotion and priority hiring. We need to hire the best person for the job.
Years of promoting individuals based on identity rather than merit are resulting in reduced services for both Inuit and non-Inuit residents of Nunavut. This approach is driving long-term non-Inuit talent to leave for the south, leading to chronic shortages in the territory.
These shortages exacerbate the challenges faced by the community and highlight the need for a merit-based system to ensure effective service delivery and retention of skilled professionals.
While I largely agree, embedded privilege is a hard thing to dislodge. Too many people benefit from our distorted system of distributions and rewards. Nunavut will always be handicapped by itself, and will happily be so.
Wonder if the GN will every move beyond the issue of vacant positions.
Teachers, Nurses, Social Workers, Administrative Staff, Doctors, Accountants, finance officers, police officers, corrections workers, all short staffed, including Ministers at the legislative assembly.
It makes me wonder if the devolution agreement was a mistake. With the lack of staff how is the GN going to meet all the obligation with the feds set out in the devolution agreement.
Didn’t Cabinet recently give Family Services something like 40 new Social Worker positions to help address the shortcomings identified in that scorching report from the Auditor General? I haven’t seen any job ads. Perhaps there’s no housing in the communities for those new positions?
Qikitaaluk is not the only region short on social services; in Kivalliq, I know of a couple without an actual person in the office and is staffed by making calls to the regional office.
So much for Family Service’s commitment to tackle issues that were presented to the Legislative…