Rankin sleeps while Baker square-dances

PATRICIA D’SOUZA

BAKER LAKE – The 13 employees of the petroleum products division of the department of public works slept well this week, after learning last Thursday that their jobs will stay in Rankin Inlet.

The jobs were scheduled for transfer to Baker Lake, to centralize in one community the two arms of the Government of Nunavut’s new Qulliq Energy Corp.

Baker Lake is home base for the Nunavut Power Corp., the energy-generation arm of QEC. PPD is being reorganized to become the fuel-procurement division of the new corporation.

But PPD employees fought the move to Baker Lake, saying the department, which was decentralized to Rankin Inlet before the creation of Nunavut, was one of the success stories of decentralization.

Eleven of the employees are Inuit. Ten are homeowners. All are highly trained.

“We’ll all sleep better tonight knowing we have Rankin to call home,” said Archie Stewart, the department’s contracts manager.

Premier Paul Okalik made the announcement in Rankin Inlet last week, before travelling to Baker Lake to tell community leaders there that instead of the Rankin jobs, 15 jobs from the Nunavut Power Corp. in Iqaluit will be coming their way.

Several of the Iqaluit positions are currently vacant, and could eventually be filled by Baker Lake Inuit residents.

However, GN officials did not know whether NPC employees whose jobs were being transferred would move to Baker Lake or seek other jobs within the government.

“There’s always more jobs available in Iqaluit,” said Manitok Thompson, MLA for Rankin Inlet South-Whale Cove. “If you lose a job in Iqaluit, there are always more options available to you.”

Ray Mercer, president of the Kivalliq Chamber of Commerce, said losing 13 jobs to Baker Lake would have hurt Rankin Inlet and the entire Kivalliq region economically. Similarly, with the addition of 15 jobs in Baker Lake, the entire region will benefit.

“It’s not 13 jobs, it’s 13 families. Even though it looks like status quo [for Rankin Inlet], we’ve gained a lot by not having these jobs moved out,” he said.

“Of course, anywhere in the Kivalliq region where there’s growth, other communities benefit from that. If Baker Lake has got 15 new jobs, Rankin Inlet will get some spin-offs and the other communities will get some spin-offs.”

The news came just in time, said Joe Niego, mayor of Baker Lake.

“People were starting to ask me, ‘When are these jobs you said were coming?’ Finally, this day has come.”

While Rankin Inlet residents slept soundly, Baker Lake residents celebrated throughout the night with a square dance held in Okalik’s honour.