NCC Investment Group Inc. CEO announces departure
Clarence Synard says ‘change is on the horizon’ in LinkedIn post; no response from company
Clarence Synard speaks at a panel during the 2024 Nunavut Trade Show in Iqaluit. A recent LinkedIn job update from Synard indicates he is no longer president and CEO of NCC Investment Group Inc. The company is not making any comment. (File photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Clarence Synard appears to be moving on from his role as president and CEO of NCC Investment Group Inc., announcing on LinkedIn that “change is on the horizon” in his life.
Synard posted a LinkedIn job update over the weekend, indicating his time as president and CEO at NCC ended this month. He called his time in the North “the most amazing and uplifting experience” of his life.
“Calling this place home was [an] honour and I am thankful for all of the friendships made that will last a lifetime,” he said, adding he’s not sure what’s next in his life.
The LinkedIn update said he was “happy to share” that he’s starting a new position as “Owner at to be determined!”
“NCC plays such a pivotal role in the development and success for Inuit and I have been honoured to play a part in that for the last 20 [plus] years.”
Synard could not be reached for comment despite numerous attempts by Nunatsiaq News.
NCC has not publicly commented on the apparent leadership change.
Despite multiple attemptsby Nunatsiaq News reporters, including making inquiries at NCC’s booth at the Nunavut Trade Show and Conference in Iqaluit last week, no representative from the company has responded to requests for comment.
A biography on NCC’s website states Synard has been with the company since 2005.
During Synard’s leadership tenure, NCC signed on to an agreement in 2022 with Nunavut Housing Corp. to build 2,000 homes across the territory as part of the Nunavut 3000 initiative. That initiative seeks to build 3,000 new homes in Nunavut between 2022 and 2030, though it has faced delays and other setbacks.
Earlier this month, Synard and representatives from Nunavut Housing Corp. faced scrutiny and questions from MLAs on the legislature’s government oversight committee.
A two-day hearing was held in response to a report from the federal auditor general’s office finding that the housing corporation had failed to provide equitable public housing and faced challenges in delivering on its construction goals.
It is very interesting how no one wants to comment at NCCIG or NCCD or NCC 3000 whatever… or that groups ownership (all the same 4 people).
This is one small step for Nunavut 3000, one giant step for the people of Nunavut. The door at NCCD and NHC needs to keep swinging in the outward direction (don’t let the door hit you in the backside). This then needs to be followed up by the ownership group of NCCD or NCC 3000 Inc or whatever they call themselves not receiving any more contracts or money from Housing or the GN. No more money until we start to see more than 18 out of 316 homes delivered and no more contracts…like forever! Time for a fresh start all round and perhaps the people of Nunavut who are desperately waiting for homes will finally see them start to be delivered. One can only hope.
Hopefully this is true. With the Departure of the Premier, The Minster of Housing and now Synard, Nunavumiut can only be optimistic that the NHC CEO might be the next to go and that the new Government elected this October will start to take the action that the previous government should have taken 18 months ago to review and reset the NU 3000 Project.
Perhaps, and maybe this is crazy, we should not be handing off no-bid contracts of this size to Inuit Dev Corps in the first place.
I get that the Feds want to funnel everything through Inuit Orgs for political reasons, but this is not resulting in the best outcomes for Nunavut. In fact, its making our politics less open and responsive, not more.
Political reason is Article 24 of the Nunavut Agreement, which supersedes all legislation.
This was always going to end poorly. From the moment NHC signed the Sole Source contract with NCCD. Everyone (except those who matter) knew that NCCD did not have anywhere near the capability to execute on such a massive project. In fact, no contractor, either local or Southern could have taken on such an ambitious plan to build 2000 out of 3000 units within 8 years without a herculean effort.
The actual NU 3000 initiative should be applauded. The planning and understanding of what it would take, should clearly, VERY CLEARLY, NOT be applauded. What we all saw was two, “Bros”… old buddy types… who had been in Nunavut a long time. Both at the helm of their respective organizations. Both seeking the limelight and to enshrine themselves in Nunavut history. Of these two, I speak of NCCD, Synard and NHC, Devereaux. Two professionals without a real plan.
So now, they certainly have enshrined themselves but not in the way they probably intended. Both those men are decent men. Having met both of them numerous times. They always struck me as professionals who were both dreamers. Always reaching….and in most cases overreaching, overly ambitious and with delusions of grandeur. In the case of Nunavut 3000, they came together and created the perfect storm.
You see, you take a government that is led by its bureaucrats and not its elected officials. You add in an Inuit company with owners who have dollar signs in their eyes. You add in a lot of great talk, create a great show, photo-Op the heck out of it and deflect, mislead, twist and turn whenever necessary to avoid the hard questions and the hard truths. You then add in 3,300+ desperate Nunavummiut’s who need homes so very badly and want to believe all the stories and claims of success from the questionable Politicians, bureaucrats, Inuit owners trying to make a buck and top it off with those two “Bros”. And there you have it. The perfect storm.
Yes folks. Mediocrity will never equal excellence. Just a storm. In this case a storm that has left Nunavummiut with 18 out of 316 homes in the last three years.
Everyone has good reason to have issues with the CEO of NCC. NCC should have never taken this one if they didn’t have the capacity to do it.
But my real issue is with NHC and the Government of Nunavut. A bad private contractor, okay, we can rid ourselves of that, but the GN we have to live with daily.
How did they not do any due diligence at all to whom they were sole sourcing 2,000 units. Presumably it would have been plenty clear NCC had no capacity should the GN ask for a plan from NCC on how they were going to do this within reasonable timelines.
Now consider that these types of things happen across all departments of gov’t. There’s a rot within the GN, a level of incompetence that plagues the people of Nunavut, from housing and far worse, education. No cycle will be broken with the current status quo at the GN. Expectations of employees are bare minimum. What was the bare minimum NHC did when looking if NCC could deliver? A chat over a beer?
It’s easy to be critical of Clarence Synard, but I think we also need to recognize that it’s still early days for Nunavut 3000. The scale of site preparation, local hiring, gravel availability, machinery, logistics, and worker accommodations are immense challenges that I don’t believe NHC fully accounted for. In many respects, NCCD over-promised, but NHC also didn’t provide the necessary details about available lots, municipal servicing, granular material, and accomadation constraints.
This raises a bigger question: where are the board and owners of NCC?
Where is the Minister and Board of NHC in all this?
Synard and Devereux may be the faces of Nunavut 3000, but they were not the ones who could greenlight it on their own. The hard questions should have been asked earlier by those in oversight roles, yet they’ve been largely absent from the conversation (and the OAG hearing).
Accountability is important, but we should be asking where the actual decision-makers are in all this. It’s too easy to focus on individuals at the front while ignoring those who had the authority to set direction and ask the hard questions. Without holding those to account, we risk oversimplifying a complex problem into personalities rather than the systems that enabled it.
But these 2 faces in front of Nunavut 3000, Synard and Devereaux are the ones being paid to deal with this. Yes there is a board of executives or decision makers, etc, but both these men are the ones who is suppose to get that spinning wheel moving. But NHC and NCC bit more than they can chew in the name of Inuit construction firm. Nunavut 3000 was signed in Oct 2022. It is not new, it is a very ambitious project but to only have 18? built and we are Oct 2025 is unacceptable.
It is common in Nunavut on construction sites for contractors to hire more or even double the number of workers necessary in order to have enough show up on any given day to make progress on the job.
Only 6% of working age Nunavummuit have a trade, and 45% have no high school attainment.
The trades is the most common pathway to construction management and project management positions.
I think we can all agree that the monumental task of providing good quality, safe and affordable housing to all in our territory is best accomplished with adequate local workforces, plenty of accredited construction trades, and management that has a wealth of home grown personal Arctic experience.
As good (or bad) as any head of a Nunavut construction organization is, there is no getting around these fundamentals. Whoever is in charge can be a miracle worker, and that is not going to cause a wall to be hoisted, a wire to be run, or a material package to be ordered, shipped and delivered.
To me, whether or not this or that person is in charge of a big chunk of Nunavut 3000 is somewhat immaterial to its ultimate success. Much more basic things are necessary.
I think we Nunavummuit are going to have to stop deluding ourselves by thinking success in anything for us hinges on a top down approach.
The ‘government’, at a political and senior officials level, have the means to assess project viability and track progress.
High-value , opaque, sole source contracting (even to an Inuit Dev Corp), should have triggered senior review. Maybe even require actual third party estimating ….. that might typically support financial authorizations.
This project was under the Minister for NHC/ Minister of Finance , as well as the premier’s office. They have business advisors, financial analysts, legislative analysists, procurement professionals, and lawyers at their disposal. Robust planning, risk assessment, and reporting was possible.
A former senior auditor for the OAG is the Chair of the NHC’s Board of Directors.
Lots of accountability to go around.
Byeeeeeee!
The fed gov. should let the communities start a small construction businesses. They’re a lot of carpenters in Nunavut. They can start small and hopefully grow. And also, start a small trade school in every community. Oil burner mechanics, electricians, plumbers etc are always in demand in Nunavut. Since all these constructions are taking place, all communities should be involved.