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Major layoffs at review board Staff halved after loss of federal fundingThandiwe Vela Northern News Services Published Monday, February 11, 2013
The news came down late last week that the board had decided major cuts would be made to address an operational shortfall, partly due to the loss of funding from the federal government. "In terms of morale, it's been a very difficult two days for staff," said executive director Vern Christensen, confirming the layoffs on Saturday. "Staff are still processing this information and dealing with the loss of their colleagues and considering how we will be needing to adjust to carry on the board's work." Over the course of the last three years, the board's operational funding has dropped to $2.7 million from $3.3 million. Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada had reduced and now has completely cut its supplementary funding, which was provided to help the board address unpredictable changes in workload. The board's base funding comes from the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement implementation plan Meanwhile, the board's costs have escalated in the last year with a number of large environmental assessments including the Fortune Minerals Inc. NICO copper-gold-bismuth-cobalt project; the Tyhee Gold Corp. Yellowknife gold project; Avalon Rare Metals Inc.'s Nechalacho project; and the Giant Mine remediation project. "We've gone through a pretty intense year in terms of environmental assessments," Christensen said. All but the Tyhee gold project are scheduled to conclude early in the new fiscal year, he added, as the board forecasts a much less intensive year for 2013-14. In addition to cuts to staff, Christensen said reductions being made to the board's fixed overhead costs include consolidating its office space on the second floor of the Scotia Centre in Yellowknife, reductions in board and staff travel and less professional development training.
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