GN holds firm on decentralization, for now

Though it’s couched in the ever-so-polite language of bureaucrats everywhere, a report issued last week holds nothing back: decentralization is plagued with problems.

But despite those woes, the government of Nunavut isn’t backing away from it.

“We have not altered the decentralization plan,” David Akeeagok, the assistant deputy minister in charge of decentralization, said this week.

Akeeagok pointed out that the report does not necessarily reflect the Nunavut government’s position, and that the government does not agree with all of its recommendations.

Prepared for the Nunavut government by consultant Ken Lovely, a retired territorial bureaucrat, and a three-person team of GN officials, the report assesses the Nunavut government’s decentralization efforts over its first two years.

The team did find that the GN succeeded in its basic goal of moving 340 jobs to communities outside of Iqaluit by December 2001.

But they also found that this effort is seriously undermined by numerous shortcomings:

• Only 209 of the 340 jobs had been filled — 131 jobs lay vacant as of December 2001, producing a vacancy rate of 37 per cent in the small communities, compared to the GN’s overall vacancy rate of 22 per cent;

• Because the GN can’t generate the necessary data, it’s impossible to calculate the costs of decentralization, or assess its impact;

• Morale among decentralized employees is “consistently low”;

• There are “significant communication problems” between decentralized staff and their bosses in Iqaluit;

• Although 59 per cent of decentralized jobs are held by Inuit, compared to 42 per cent for the government overall, most of those are lower-pay, lower-status administrative support positions, while most managers and professional staff are non-Inuit;

• Local businesses appear to be gaining few benefits from decentralization.

To help fix these problems, the report makes 13 recommendations, including:

• The decentralization of 14 Health and Social Services jobs to Kugluktuk and 21 Sustainable Development jobs to Igloolik should be “reassessed,” and the deputy ministers for those departments should be directed to find other jobs and functions that could be moved to those communities;

• The GN should provide decentralized staff with more decision-making power and financial signing authority;

• The GN should find ways of collecting data that will help them evaluate decentralization in five to seven years;

David Akeeagok said that, since the report has been issued only recently, the government hasn’t had a chance to decide which recommendations it will act on first.

“What we’re anticipating is that different strategies that are under way right now, will solve a lot of these recommendations,” Akeeagok said.

He added, though, that the government hasn’t accepted all the recommendations.

For example, he said the government has not changed its approach to decentralization in Kugluktuk, where 14 decentralized Health and Social Services jobs have been created.

But since August 2000, when the move was announced, only three of those Kugluktuk jobs have been filled, and only one by an Inuk.

The Kugluktuk unit is supposed to work on developing health policy, health strategies and information materials.

But the GN has been unable to recruit well-educated health professionals willing to live in Kugluktuk, and there are no local people with the academic qualifications needed for most of the positions.

For similar reasons, the report recommends that the GN take a second look at moving 21 Department of Sustainable Development employees — most of them involved in wildlife research — to Igloolik.

Many of those DSD employees have graduate degrees in biology and other disciplines, and few appear willing to move from Iqaluit to Igloolik. That means the GN could be faced with the difficult task of re-staffing the unit with new employees willing to live in Igloolik.

But Akeeagok said that he and many others in the government disagree with this assessment.

He said it’s important for young Inuit in the communities to observe people who have received university degrees, so that they can aspire to the same thing.