IQALUIT - The people have spoken, and they had harsh things to say about the Government of Nunavut, slamming issues such as decentralization, Article 23 hiring, service in Inuktitut, and the state of education, to name just a few.

Premier Eva Aariak introduces Piers MacDonald of North Sky Consulting, the firm which prepared the GN Report Card for the Government of Nunavut. - Gabriel Zarate/NNSL photo

The long-awaited GN Report Card, a compilation and analysis of the opinions of 2,100 Nunavummiut by North Sky Consulting, was released on Oct. 1 to legislators and the public the same day. The report card was one of the first undertakings announced by the third legislative assembly after last year's election.

Premier Eva Aariak said many of the concerns voiced in the report were the same as what she had heard from her constituents.

"One thing that I really noticed is that we have a lot of work to do," she said. "I'm very happy to see the report as presented."

Aariak said she looks forward to the legislative assembly's next sitting in November, where Nunavut's lawmakers will discuss the Report Card and consider how to address the problems it highlighted.

"It's not going to be easy, let me tell you, because of the financial constraints we are under, the capacity issues," she said. "So we are definitely going to have to work at short-term, medium-term and long-term ranges of solutions."

One of the report card's 93 recommendations was for the government to review its policies addressing Article 23 of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, which requires the government to aim for Inuit as 85 per cent of its employees, the same as the general population of Nunavut.

"Many government employees, Inuit and non-Inuit alike, have commented that the timeline for achieving the goal of 85 per cent Inuit representation within government is unrealistic and unachievable," the report states.

The report says department representatives say people are being hired or promoted without the qualifications or skills to do the job to raise the number of Inuit staff, and then there isn't enough training or support to help such employees adjust to the challenge. For that the report recommends expanded training and evaluation of employees, but also to "recruit and promote only qualified candidates, giving priority to Inuit."

The GN's policy of decentralization -locating government departments in scattered communities - also came under criticism. Many such jobs in the communities aren't available to local residents because of the high qualifications necessary, so are filled by people from southern Canada.

As part of their employment, such staff get guaranteed government housing while people who grew up in the communities live in overcrowded conditions. Furthermore, co-ordination of services between decentralized offices is complicated by poor Internet bandwidth.

People also complained they aren't able to access many government services in Inuit languages. Many reported misunderstandings in critical situations such as criminal charges or medical diagnoses. The report recommends developing an Inuit language training program for government employees, and a 1-800 telephone line that could provide translation service for government as well as businesses.

Baker Lake MLA Moses Aupaluktuk said he looked forward to reading the 100-page document in detail. On Friday he had only touched on the highlights.

"I think it's great that people of Nunavut have spoken and it's a great tool for people to communicate their needs," he said. "It's going to be a great discussion with my constituents as well as my colleagues in caucus."

Ron Elliott, MLA for Quttiktuq, said he was proud of Nunavummiut, and his constituents in particular, for voicing their opinions.

"A lot of the times people will complain and they'll say it feels like the government is not listening to what they're saying, but they won't take the opportunity or the next step. When an opportunity is presented to say something, they won't."

Elliott said MLAs are expected to present recommendations of where they want the government to go, based on what their communities have identified as their priorities. This will happen at the Oct. 20 caucus meeting.

What Nunavummiut had to say

"No one ever answers a phone!" (Kimmirut)

"GN is always operating in crisis mode which is not responsible." (Iqaluit)

"I don't think we are better off since the split." (Cape Dorset)

"Midwives should be located in communities. Sending mothers out to stay with sick people is not good." (Iglulik)

"We are turning out graduates who neither speak nor write English or Inuktitut fluently." (Repulse Bay)

"The most important thing for hiring Inuit for government is ask 'Can this person do the job?' There is no point in putting someone in a job if they can't do it." (Taloyoak)

What GN employees had to say

"Decentralization is a good concept but in reality it doesn't work."

"Our inefficiencies lead to deplorable service levels while documents are lost, shuffled and returned for correction."

"We need an interpreter/translator on staff to provide this service. This is not the job of the secretary or the bilingual people on staff."

"We have an embarrassingly poor website."

"There is something wrong when an intern, after three years, still can't do what is required."

"Finding any positive employee morale is difficult."

-with files from Lauren McKeon and Jennifer Geens