Nunavut government announces new deputy ministers
Premier Savikataaq appoints DMs for Health, ED&T and CGS departments
A view of the legislative assembly building in Iqaluit. Nunavut Premier Joe Savikataaq announced three new deputy ministers last week. (Photo by Sarah Rogers)
The Government of Nunavut has some new faces within its senior ranks, following a series of deputy minister appointments that Premier Joe Savikataaq announced last week.
Effective April 1, the Department of Economic Development and Transportation will get a new deputy minister: veteran civil servant Bernie MacIsaac, who held that role in an interim capacity in 2017.
Savikataaq thanks the ED&T department’s outgoing deputy minister, Udloriak Hanson, for her “vision and dedication to the Government of Nunavut over the last year and a half.”
After a number of changes to its senior management, the Department of Health finally has a new deputy minister, Ruby Brown, who started on March 18, the GN said.
Brown comes from British Columbia with an extensive background in northern and rural health-care, the GN said in a March 29 release.
Finally, the Department of Community and Government Services has had a new deputy minister since October 2018; Constance Hourie, who comes to Nunavut from Saskatchewan, where she worked in municipal and community governance.
“Filling these positions within key departments is vital to the operational success of our government,” Savikataaq said in a release.
“Their experiences and abilities are very well-suited to their respective departments, and their leadership abilities will certainly bring renewal to their senior management teams.”
Does anyone else think that there is too many DM shuffling? The DMs do not seem to stay in a department long enough to make improvements and changes, after couple years they get shuffled. I’m not sure how anyone can accomplish anything like that, maybe that is why the GN is the way it is?
Sometimes deputy ministers decide to take another job and new deputy ministers have to be appointed. It’s not always shuffling. Before people run away with that. Always assuming the worst. Congrats to Hanson on her new role.
Yes you are right that it is not always shuffling, but you have to admit that after a couple years most department DMs get shuffled, for the staff of the department, who is the one in charge to see that the staff are on track and moving in the right direction, who in administration is responsible?
after 2-3 years its a new DM or a recycled DM. I just don’t see how a department can have the leadership when its changed every couple of years.
Say everybody of every department ever. It’s not just in Iqaluit, it’s everywhere. You can’t force people to stay. Direction generally doesn’t change unless there’s a change in government. Give a round of applause to senior staff while hold it down
Ken,
Your comment suggests that you think the Deputy Ministers are there to run their departments.
Nothing could be further from reality.
The Deputy Ministers are appointed by the Premier. Their job is to communicate the Cabinet’s instructions to the Assistant Deputy Ministers and to inform their Minister what their department is doing. They are not allowed to talk with anyone else.
The DMs are shuffled frequently so they will not have an opportunity to establish informal contacts with the staff in their department. Having such contacts could result in the DM knowing too much and thus becoming too powerful.
So who is in charge of the department if it is not the DM and ADM? Who is the one that makes sure the department is moving in the right direction and staff are doing their jobs?
Is this what happened (DM knowing too much and thus becoming too powerful.) in the Education dept? We had a DM their for more then 10 years after so many AG reports calling for improvements and changes but it never happened.
I’ve always wondered why it is very difficult for the GN to accomplish much,
To an extent, the Directors are the ones in charge. But they can only try to keep things going. They have no power to make any changes. They cannot “move the department in the right direction.”
GN rules permit the Deputy Ministers to make very minor changes, but only if the change affects no one except staff in their department.
For example, the Deputy Minister can change the type of toilet paper in the washrooms, but only if the washrooms are not accessible by employees of other departments or the general public.
Changes that affect the general public or more than one department require Cabinet approval. So, if the GN were to follow the GN’s own rules, only Cabinet could approve changing the type of toilet paper in a public washroom.
Is it more clear “why it is very difficult for the GN to accomplish much”?
Nunavut was set up to be self governing. But it was set up with a structure that guaranteed it could not do so in a positive way.
As if you care, Joe!