Kettler first-ever Inuk ministerial chief of staff on Parliament Hill
As top staffer in Northern Affairs minister’s office, she hopes to be an example for other Indigenous people
Kathy Kettler was at Parliament Hill on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30. Kettler’s mother, Susie Etok, is a residential school survivor. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
A long career in public service and with Indigenous organizations has led Kathy Kettler to a job no other Inuk has had before.
Last month, Kettler started her new role as chief of staff for Northern Affairs Minister Daniel Vandal. The 47-year-old is the first Inuk to take on such a high position in a federal minister’s office and says she is proud to take it on.
“It’s something that I feel that not a lot of people get to experience,” she said in an interview. “I’m truly thankful to be in this position, especially with the background I have.”
Kettler’s experience is different from other Inuit. She was born in Arnprior, Ont., a small town west of Ottawa. Her father, Manfried Kettler, is German and her mother, Susie Etok, is from Kangiqsualujjuaq in Nunavik.
Kettler considers Kangiqsualujjuaq as her family’s place of origin. She is a beneficiary of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, and remains close with several Etok family members who live in Nunavik.
After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree from Western University in London, Ont., Kettler’s career with Indigenous organizations began in 2000 at the Aboriginal Healing Foundation.
After 13 years there, she worked for the Assembly of First Nations, followed by a stint with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.
Kettler started at Indigenous Services Canada in 2017, working under various ministers in that department. When Marc Miller was shuffled from his role as minister of Indigenous services to minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, Kettler became his deputy chief of staff.
She held that position for a year before getting promoted to chief of staff in Vandal’s office.
While she has spent most of her life living in the south, she has travelled all over the North for work and personal visits. Most recently, she travelled to Iqaluit for the visit Pope Francis made to the community in July.
“I’ve spent a lot of time over the years, especially with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, in various parts of the Arctic,” she said.
Kettler said she brings a sense of understanding of Indigenous issues to her role. Her mother was a residential school survivor.
Being in a senior staff position, Kettler hopes she’s setting an example for other younger Inuit, showing that they too can work their way up the ranks in government and take on high-level jobs.
“I would hope that other Indigenous peoples would be inspired … to get involved in government, not only at the federal level but also the territorial and municipal level,” she said.
“If there’s any opportunity for a conversation with anyone, I’d be more than happy to have it.”
Well, that’s good if Kathy has some understanding of the challenges for Inuit in the south and if she campaigns actively to make things happen. Unlike so many Indigenous leaders who don’t speak for followers.
The good news about the increasing Inuit population in the south might seem to be the better opportunities for education and employment along with, of course, less than half the cost of food and everything else.
The bad news is the pitifully inadequate support. Inuit in the south need supplementary help. Finding housing, enrolling in remedial education, supervised homework, skills training programs and job placement. And organized sports for children and youth.
Inuit arriving in the south are vulnerable targets for pimps and drug dealers.
Here’s my experience in when taking a middle-aged Ojibwa woman to the Ottawa YM/YWCA’s program that provides mentoring and direction on all counts, supposedly open to anyone. When we sat at the table to fill in the application form, a big Black man came over to ask who we were and suchforth. Upon telling him he said words to the effect, “I don’t know why you’re here. We only serve immigrants.”
Why not replicate for the Indigenous what immigrants get? Don’t take no for an answer from your MP, the minister and, of course now Kathy as Mr. Vandal’s chief of staff.
Good for her, but this is news?
Way to go Kathy !!!! Thank you for your strong encouragement for other young Inuit to go for what was once impossible! You know what the challenges have been for many years and have been a part of advocacy for many Inuit coast-to coast-coast! We do not have to live in the north to know what the issues are! When we work for groups that represent the well-being of Inuit, it is then that we have the power to decide on policy change and such. The saying that one must know and live the experience’s to work to make change to issues that different groups of ethnicities has long expired. My kids were born and raised here and of course they identify fully as Inuk. That being said – even though we are beneficiaries to the NLCA we do not get the same provisions that Inuit who live on Inuit Nunangat have access to. I will not name what they are but as many of my fellow urban Inuit know, it is there, the absence of provisions and services that our fellow beneficiaries receive. There is also the fight for funding which Inuit entrepreneur’s face when non-Inuit consultants and firms start blocking the growth of our livelihood. To give a brief example, there are people in positions of power to accept proposals but when they are so involved in the opinions of the non-Inuit firms and consultants and take their word as the final say to stop the funding , this has to change. No more silence but like so many other people in these position’s, it is sad that we must stay silent or the powerful business owners will sue. So all this being said, congrats on this position which holds many opportunities to inform the MInister of the challenges we Inuit face regardless of where we live.
Your suggestion that “non-Inuit consultants and firms” want to block the growth of your livelihood is not believable to me.
Is it possible, and more likely, that your funding proposals are weak or poorly designed in some way? I suspect the process in the south is much more rigorous than it is in Nunavut, for reasons than should be apparent.