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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Environment Canada announced earlier this month it will cut hundreds of jobs, and it is likely Northern workers will be affected.

Mark Johnson, a spokesperson for Environment Canada, said the government issued a nationwide letter to 776 of its workers Aug. 5, stating their positions may be affected by a "workforce adjustment process."

By the end of the process, Johnson added, about 300 jobs will be eliminated.

"The job cuts represent less than five per cent of total Environment Canada employment," Johnson said.

Environment Canada has 770 employees in its Prairie and Northern Region division, which encompasses the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta. So far, 58 of them have received notice that they are "affected" by the process, he said. Johnson did not specify how many of those employees are in the NWT.

"I want to emphasize that this does not mean those positions are being eliminated; it means that their positions are going to be affected by the process," he said.

Environment Canada is synonymous with weather forecasts, but Northern workers are actually employed in a variety of divisions. In the North, a majority of Environment Canada workers are with the Canadian Wildlife Service, said Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley.

"Workers are primarily employed with environmental protective operations, and environmental emergency services," said Bromley. "Environment Canada still has a division up here for weather forecasts too, but it's pretty sparse - they shut down (forecast) operations here about eight years ago and moved them to Edmonton, which was a shame."

Bromley said with the tabling of the NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Action Plan in May, environment job cuts are "not what we need right now."

The plan addresses the need to protect NWT waters from pollution, and stresses their importance as a natural resource which should be used and cared for responsibly, Bromley said.

"Cutting jobs in the environment sector is going to make it harder for us to promote the plan, not easier. The federal government is not taking proper responsibility or fulfilling its role in this situation."

Environment and Natural Resources Minister Michael Miltenberger would not comment on the job cuts.

"Until we have firm numbers as to how many jobs have been cut by Environment Canada in the North, I cannot make a comment," he said. "It's a federal issue."

Johnson said the cuts are being made as part of a mandate to help Canada's economic recovery, and are part of an attempt to balance the federal budget by 2014-2015.

"Environment Canada has taken a hard look at its spending to ensure the department is spending its resources on priorities like improving air quality and cleaner water for Canadians," Johnson said.

Bromley disagrees.

"Canadian Wildlife Service used to be held up as a very well-run professional government division, but since the long line of government

cuts started a few years back, the whole thing got gutted, and now the division is really ineffective," Bromley said.

"The main issue in the division is underfunding, and cutting back funding from an already underfunded department is only going to make matters worse," he said.

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