GN announces changes in territory’s senior management
Three government departments are affected by changes
Iqaluit has received $50,000 in federal funding to develop a plan for walking trails throughout the city. (File photo)
The Government of Nunavut announced three senior management changes Friday.
Megan Hunt is the new deputy minister for the GN’s Department of Health. She was previously executive director for the First Nations Health Authority in B.C., said GN spokesperson Beth Brown in a news release.
“She has extensive experience in strategic health administration, with a focus on Indigenous and northern communities,” Brown said.
Hunt’s previous roles have prioritized land-based healing, crisis response, culturally safe service delivery, and eHealth.
The release also indicated Anna Fowler has been appointed associate deputy minister and deputy secretary to cabinet at Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs. She previously served as assistant deputy minister in the department.
Also, Les Hickey will continue his term as deputy minister in the Department of Human Resources until the end of August.
“This second year of implementing our Katujjiluta mandate is crucial to see results for Nunavummiut. I have great confidence in the leadership of our public service and know these changes will strengthen the work of government,” Premier P.J. Akeeagok said.
The Katujjiluta mandate involves “a commitment to work in unity to manifest the courageous dream,” Commissioner Eva Aariak said in announcing the mandate in her throne speech in March 2022.
Enforcing accountability throughout the GN is always needed. Megan Hunt as the new deputy minister for the GN’s Department of Health is welcomed. I hope that she has the backbone to fire staff that are failing to meet the core requirements of their job descriptions at the senior level. Afterall, it’s our health at risk. Senior staff should be highly scrutinized on overall progress (or decline) while in office, and considering obvious shortfalls from our current health administration there are holes here. This move seems like a step in the right direction. Change can be good.
Fire them all and then leave these important positions vacant for what could be an eternity? Damned if you do.
Damned if you don’t.
I must be missing something. The GN cannot even hire qualified staff to administer the ‘courageous dream’. The reality of the situation speakers louder than the delusion.
“Corageous dream”, very North Korea-ish. Though not surprising given the behaviour of the federal government. Onward, comrades!
Strange non-sequitur considering it’s a direct quote from OUR Commissioner.
Can you see the Federal Government in the room with you now? What is it saying to you?
It is interesting that long time ADMs at Health never promote – maybe it’s by choice. In the last few years the Department has cycled through a few DMs who came fresh from the south. As well, they seem to keep bringing back a retired DM who for over the past ten years has done very little to improve Health in the territory, no doubt at exorbitant expense and travel costs. Surely there is someone competent they can find who works there with fresh ideas and a Nunavut address for over 2 years?
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Hopefully we are not in a replay with the new DM but my guess is that she will hit the wall that is middle-senior management and will not be able to support front line staff with better recruit, bonuses, education leave, job splits and mental health supports. I think we are over 5+ years now since Health promised a new incentive package for nurses as published here in NN. Wow.
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I am more of the philosophy that you need to drain the swamp, not just replace the head when it comes to Health. Unfortunately there are better career opportunities and superior lifestyle choices across the north in NWT and Yukon as well as in the south that is hurting for health care staff and management so I guess Nunavummuit are stuck with the second string team with a new captain when it comes to Health. Good luck – you’re not in BC anymore!
Would be great to see a swamp draining in Justice.
Won’t ever happen.
I know at least four people who were hired there, trained, and unceremoniously let go when management let their CSA lapse. Just in this past year.
No problems brought to their attention, no opportunity to improve, no communication … just suddenly not worth keeping. No wonder they’re perpetually hiring.
The incompetence, the lack of initiative, the complete inability to communicate are all staggering.
The ability of Nunavut manager’s to cultivate uncomfortable and hostile environments in the office and then feign ignorance about our retention issues will never cease to amaze me.
It highlights our reliance on bad southern economies. As long as Ontario has as many help wanted signs as it does now, “business as usual”, which is to say incompetence and vindictiveness, won’t be an option.
It’s a corporate culture problem, which is fed by multiple streams unfortunately. The sad thing to see is so many good people give up and move on after becoming demoralized by these same managers you describe, many of whose inexplicable ascent ‘up the ladder’ will never be attributed to their own hard work, knowledge or education. These aren’t ‘bad people’… but their incompetence is slowly burning the whole thing down.
We’re planning to be out of here in no more than three years.
I’ve pretty much reached my threshold.
1. Nunavut can no longer afford revolving-door health care.
2. Dept. of Health has to start making a serious dent in the “unwellness” of Nunavummiut.
3. Today’s Dept. of Health is primarily a subsidy for Canadian North.
4. Nurses and physicians spend most of their time in front of a computer. Less than 5% of their time is spent with patients.
5. For physicians, they spend their few minutes talking at patients. The amount of time they spend looking at, or listening to, patients, can usually be measured in seconds.
6. For nurses, they spend a bit longer with patients. Giving them pills or injections, taking their temperature, blood pressure, etc. Nurses spend more time recording what they did than listening to patients or helping patients.
7. QGH used to offer very good meals at low prices in its cafeteria, as a way to help with employee retention. Several times each week the special was roast beef. Most of the lawyers in Iqaluit started eating there regularly. Bean-counting management fired the chef and opted for airline-style meals. The lawyers stopped eating there. So did the staff. And employee retention went way down.
If everyone thought jobs are more important than school but the ministers thought school is more important, we will learn unimportant history in school instead of working on jobs that improve the public and housing and health care.
There’s no such thing as unimportant history.
We would live in a drab, lifeless world if we just trained everyone to be an engineer or a doctor or just a good little worker bee.
The dead ol prime ministers and presidents are unimportant history.
Great inventers like Nikola tesla is an engineer or a doctor or just a good little worker bee.
The Government of Nunavut has an opportunity in front of it. If it continues to fail at addressing health care needs, maybe we need to take a prevention approach? The burdens of the health care system are due to overcrowding, education, and community wellness opportunities. We can instantly put money into recreation programming, in communities that has been proven to reduce health impacts. We need to educate and create better opportunities wellness, instead of reacting to illness. Let’s take some of health’s budget and work on prevention for a change!
We definitely need more public education on prevention issues like smoking, diet and dental care, as well as opportunities for exercise and recreation.
MAKE NUNAVUT GREAT AGAIN!!!
Look around you, Healthcare is suffering all over Canada, it’s not just here in Nunavut, burnout, staffing shortages, diets, it’s everywhere, and no one person can fix it anywhere, try and take care of ourselves but no we have to blame all governments,
Diets?