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INUVIK
Gurdev Jagpal has seen dramatic changes in the Department of Transportation since he began working in the North in 1986.

Gurdev Jagpal has 25 years of working with the territorial government's Department of Transportation under his belt. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

Over the past 25 years, Jagpal's career path has taken him from a project engineer in the Yellowknife area to regional superintendent in Inuvik. On Jan. 10, he was one of 53 recipients to be acknowledged for their service to the GNWT at a long-service award ceremony held at the Midnight Sun Complex.

Jagpal, originally from Punjab, India, made his way to Canada for school, completing his degree in engineering at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. After four years working in Yellowknife, designing and constructing roads such as the Fort Providence area access road and part of Highway 3 from 1986 to 1989, Jagpal moved to Inuvik in April 1990. He calls Inuvik home after settling down and raising his family here.

In Inuvik, he was part of the team that designed and reconstructed the Inuvik airport road.

"We did the repaving of the runway of the Inuvik airport and community terminal buildings in the communities were mostly replaced," said Jagpal in his office on Mackenzie Road.

As he speaks, he gets a phone call about the surrounding road conditions.

"If I don’t take the call, then there's a problem," he said.

These days, Jagpal relays critical information to communications outlets about the conditions of the roads, what is open and what is closed.

"It changes quite a bit, suddenly it is stormy and the highway closes – like it closed just now," he said.

Jagpal said about 120 km of the Dempster Highway have been reconstructed under his watch.

"It was quite narrow near McPherson. The transportation world has improved dramatically – a lot safer and easier to get around," he said.

Jagpal says there's one thing that hasn't changed in the past 25 years: his passion for the job and his love of the community.

"What's important is working with the communities creating more local jobs and local business development, and working toward departmental goals and objectives," he said.

Although he's fulfilled a quarter of a century in the department, it's not even close to being over for Jagpal.

"I plan to continue here for the foreseeable future. My kids, all three of them, graduated from here and made good careers from here," he said. "The community's nice here, the environment is good here."

The long-service awards took place in Inuvik earlier this month, recognizing GNWT employees in the Beaufort Delta. Five years was the first acknowledged accomplishment and the awards moved up in increments of five years – with Jagpal being the longest-serving employee.

Sheila Bassi-Kellett, deputy minister of the Department of Human Resources, said the GNWT sees enormous importance in recognizing the contributions of longterm employees. She stated via e-mail that goals and priorities set by MLAs and ministers are met through the efforts of government staff.

"We see retention of our staff as a very important factor in the continued delivery of quality programs and services to Northerners," she wrote.

"Staff who are familiar with the people, programs and priorities of their work have the skills, experience and corporate knowledge to ensure that GNWT programs are delivered smoothly and efficiently, and that Northerners are well-served," she stated.

The Beaufort Delta longservice awards were presented during the leadership meetings held in Inuvik, allowing ministers, Premier Bob McLeod, mayors and other leaders to be in attendance.

"It was excellent, the premier was there and the ministers were there. The mayor of Tuktoyaktuk congratulated me as did the Gwich'in partners at the meeting," said Jagpal.

"That was exciting. That was equal to the award I got. I was so happy. It encouraged me, the local community support on this."

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