Stephanie McDonald
Northern News Services
Monday, July 9, 2007

IQALUIT - It was with mixed emotions that Nunavut’s deputy minister of Community and Government Services has resigned her post.

Pam Hine tendered her resignation with the Government of Nunavut and will start work as the deputy minister of Education with the Yukon Government on Aug. 20.

Pam Hine

One of the reasons Hine resigned is the condition in every senior bureaucrat’s contract that they must speak Inuktitut by Jan. 1, 2008. Hine did not take the offered Inuktitut classes.

"I’ve picked up the odd word, but I know where my abilities would end," Hine said. "At this point in my life I had made the decision to move on, but it was my decision."

Hine had hoped to stay in the community for at least another three years, enabling her youngest son to finish high school.

"It wasn’t an easy decision to make," Hine said. "We’ve been here for 12 years. My children grew up here and this is home."

Hine supports the promotion of Inuktitut in the workplace and said that ultimately it is up to an individual whether they want to make the time and effort to learn.

Hine started work with the Nunavut Government on Jan. 1, 2000 as president of the Nunavut Housing Corporation.

She held that portfolio for three years before being appointed deputy minister of Education.

In August 2006 Hine was appointed to her current position as deputy minister of Community and Government Services.

In addition to her work in the government, Hine spearheaded the creation of the Iqaluit chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

She will spend her last week in Iqaluit building the organization’s first house in Nunavut.

"If you know Pam, you know that she never leaves a project, so I don’t think she’ll be too far away," said Habitat for Humanity vice chairperson Ken Spencer.

As a member of the national board and founding member of the Iqaluit chapter, Spencer said that Hine would no doubt stay involved. "Pam gets entrenched in whatever she does."