Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 03/99) - Moving federal jobs to the North may increase the level of service Northerners get from the government, but it will be costly, resulting in duplication and create communications problems.

Those were a few of the conclusions of a recent study on the effects of moving DIAND jobs North, a move the territorial government has been pushing for years.

The March 25 report, entitled "Assessment of the potential transfer of program responsibilities from the National Capital Region to the NWT," is the second phase of a study the government is doing on the proposed move.

It examines the impact of different decentralization scenarios, from the status quo, to creating a regional office in the North that would have take the lead on issues affecting Northerners.

The scenarios involve moving none, some or all of 100 jobs to Yellowknife from DIAND's headquarters in Hull, Que.

All of the jobs are in DIAND's northern affairs program and claims and Indian government sector.

The report includes preliminary estimates of the costs of decentralizing DIAND jobs. Annual added costs for the various scenarios range from zero to $7 million. Preliminary estimates of the one-time cost of implementing any changes range zero to $5 million.

The people in Hull, it notes, are not heartened by the prospect of moving to Yellowknife.

"There is understandably considerable angst amongst staff about decentralization, and cynicism about the political factors driving the study," notes the report. "Most staff at headquarters will not be prepared to move to the NWT for personal reasons."

Further, the report detailed many of the staff in Hull are at advanced stages of their careers and felt they would have little difficulty finding other jobs where they are.

The study was based in part, on 100 interviews. About one-third of those interviewed are bureaucrats filling positions that stood to be moved North. Staffers at DIAND's office in Yellowknife, GNWT bureaucrats, business representatives and an environmentalist were also interviewed.

A decision on how many jobs, if any, will be transferred North is expected from DIAND Minister Jane Stewart within the next few weeks.

Yellowknife mayor responds

Yellowknife Mayor Dave Lovell said Friday, he feels the number of DIAND positions that need to be transferred to the territory is, realistically, more like 25 to 40. But he added that DIAND is taking the wrong approach in trying to lure the bureaucrats North.

"They should just say that those 25 jobs are being transferred," he said. "(The federal government) moved Veterans' Affairs to Charlottetown when it would have made more sense for that department to stay in Ottawa -- but here we're dealing with Indian and Northern affairs, and there's just no excuse for not moving those jobs."

Lovell stressed that DIAND staffers can't effectively carry out their duties from half a continent away.

"When I see how they fooled around with the diamonds -- if it hadn't been for the GNWT and the communities in the territory, Canada would have lost a whole industry," he said.