Pond Inlet SAO honoured by peers

DENISE RIDEOUT

OTTAWA — Nunavut’s municipal leaders honoured Rhoda Katsak last week for her contribution to the Hamlet of Pond Inlet.

They named Katsak, who has worked as the senior administrative officer in Pond Inlet for two years, the SAO of the year.

During an award banquet in Ottawa May 2, mayors and other senior administrative officers from Nunavut’s 25 hamlets applauded Katsak for her integrity, honesty and efficiency in administering the day-to-day workings of Pond Inlet.

Katsak, along with the territory’s mayors and SAOs, was in Ottawa for the Nunavut Association of Municipalities annual meeting last week.

Each year the Nunavut Association of Municipal Administrators, an organization made up of the territory’s senior administrative officers, awards an SAO for his or her contribution to the hamlet.

The award is named after James Eetoolook, the first vice-president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. who began his political career working for the settlement of Taloyoak.

Through his work, Eetoolook helped bring Taloyoak from a settlement council to a hamlet. The award honours senior administrative officers who are strongly committed to their hamlet council and the community.

Elwood Johnson, president of the Nunavut Association of Municipal Administers, told delegates attending the award banquet that Katsak deserved the honour for successfully running Pond Inlet’s hamlet.

Katsak is known among SAOs and mayors as a strong lobbyist. “I’m not afraid to speak out on behalf of the communities,” she said in an interview after accepting the award. “I like making the government understand what the local people want.”

Despite her no-holds-barred attitude, Katsak was strangely quiet when her name was announced. She walked to the front of the crowd to accept the plaque, but refused calls from other SAOs to give an acceptance speech.

“When they gave me that award they called me a loud-mouth,” she explained. “But I was so surprised. I think it was the first time in my life that I was speechless,” she said, letting out a laugh.

Katsak, who grew up in Igloolik and moved to Pond Inlet in 1972, has a long history with the hamlet’s administration. She started as the receptionist in 1990, worked her way up to assistant administrator of finance, and was later hired as the SAO.

In that position, Katsak often finds herself talking with Nunavut government officials about Pond Inlet’s lack of money for basic infrastructure and programs. Last year, she sat on a finance committee that was reviewing the way the Nunavut government funds hamlet projects and programs.

“I talk with all the people working with the deputy ministers and convince them of what the council wants,” she said.

“The municipalities aren’t getting enough funding resources and when the government hasn’t changed their funding ways for 10 years, it’s difficult.”

But Katsak has a passion for working with numbers and is always looking for other sources of money. “I love the financial stuff. I like finding that 10¢ that no one else finds.”