GN developing ‘relationship’ with federal workers, seeks to hire them

The Government of Nunavut is developing a “relationship” with the territory’s federal bureaucrats ahead of devolution, Premier John Main said Thursday.

The territory is looking to hire some of those federal employees, who could lose their jobs because of devolution.

“We’re still working very closely,” Main told the legislative assembly. “Ultimately it will be an individual decision, person by person, whether or not they want to accept that offer and come over to work for the Government of Nunavut.”

In January 2024, the federal and territorial governments signed a devolution agreement, through which Ottawa will transfer its land management responsibilities to the GN.

The agreement will take effect April 1, 2027, and impact 68 federal employees in Nunavut, Main said.

The GN will start sending formal job offers to those employees in October. If they accept, their housing will move under the GN’s purview, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs spokesperson Jacinthe Goulet told Nunatsiaq News in April.

Those employees will work in the newly announced Department of Mines, Natural Resources and Land, responsible for the management of public lands and fresh-water, along with the oversight of mineral, oil and gas developments.

The new department will replace the Devolution Secretariat, the part of the Department of Executive and Intergovernmental Affairs that is in charge of devolution.

The secretariat will “roll into” the new department and cease to exist on April 1, Main said before tabling this year’s budget on May 25.