What makes Rankin so special?

Since the creation of Nunavut on April 1, 1999, the decentralization of Nunavut government jobs has disrupted the lives of hundreds of territorial government workers and their families.

The government always knew this would happen. They knew that many government workers, especially those with well-established roots in Iqaluit, would resist the idea of moving to one of the 10 smaller communities. Furthermore, they were aware that decentralization could cost a lot of money.

But they also knew that decentralization would bring badly needed economic benefits to those communities, and that to abandon the idea would be seen as a massive betrayal by virtually everyone outside of Iqaluit.

So the Nunavut cabinet made a political decision. They weighed the costs of decentralization, including the human cost, against its benefits. And they decided that, at the end of the day, decentralization is worth doing.

Was this decision in the public interest? That’s a legitimate subject of dispute, and there are valid positions on both sides. A recent GN report on decentralization, for example, shows that the initiative has produced mixed results. It has worked well in some places, but not in others. Morale among people working in some decentralized sites is low, and they suffer from serious communication problems with their head offices in Iqaluit.

At the same time though, many community residents, especially Inuit, now have jobs they might not otherwise have had a chance to get. That’s an indisputable benefit.

Now, as a result of the most recent decentralization initiative to come forward, one group of territorial government workers has stepped forward to ask that they be treated differently than all the other hundreds of territorial government employees who have been affected by decentralization over the past three years.

The 16 employees of the petroleum products division in Rankin Inlet have circulated a petition saying they don’t want to move to Baker Lake under a proposed restructuring scheme that would shift their jobs into a new energy corporation.

Rankin Inlet’s two MLAs, both cabinet ministers, have been fighting this move inside cabinet. It’s hard to blame them for doing this. The consensus system encourages all members to put local concerns above the interests of the whole territory, and they both won their seats by razor-thin margins in the last election. So if Manitok Thompson and Jack Anawak don’t oppose the Rankin-to-Baker move of PPD jobs, their political careers will come to an abrupt end after next fall’s election.

On the other hand, Premier Paul Okalik, the minister responsible for decentralization, said in an interview last week that this move is in the best interests of Nunavummiut, and that his goal is to move the PPD office to Baker Lake.

Okalik has no choice but to take this position. This is not the first time that groups of employees have resisted decentralization, and this is not the first time that the government has pressed ahead anyway.

Last year, several employees of the department of sustainable development resisted a plan to move their unit to Igloolik. One wrote an angry, bitter letter to Nunatsiaq News. And a report on decentralization prepared for the Nunavut government even recommended that the move of DSD jobs to Igloolik be cancelled.

But Okalik and his decentralization team forged ahead with the Iqaluit-Igloolik move anyway, as they have with so many others.

Given that context, why should 16 employees in Rankin Inlet be treated differently than hundreds of other territorial workers?

Yes, many of those 16 PPD workers are homeowners, well-established in a community they love. But many dozens of well-established Iqaluit homeowners, who also lived in a community that they loved, have been forced to confront the same dilemma: move or quit your job.

The 16 PPD workers from Rankin, and their supporters, have provided no evidence as to why they should be treated differently than any of the other group of territorial workers who have already been affected by decentralization.

If their PPD transfer to Baker Lake makes economic and administrative sense, then the government of Nunavut should make it so.

JB