Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

RESOLUTE BAY (Feb 08/99) - It's the stuff that dreams are made of in many of Nunavut's small hamlets -- the addition of local jobs that pay decent salaries.

And this time around, it's the residents of Resolute Bay who are riding at the top of the wheel of fortune.

According to Dan Leaman, the senior administrator for the High Arctic hamlet, the moment he learned that NAV Canada was pulling out of his community, he knew it likely spelled opportunity for residents.

Leaman explained that in December, 1997, four years after NAV Canada took over and privatized the flight service station that looks after the 1,950-metre airstrip in Resolute Bay, NAV Canada ruled that airports in Canada with less than 10,000 annual movements would switch to a CARS system.

"We sort of picked up on it and felt we could find people here who were really interested," said Leaman.

A community meeting run by NAV Canada employees generated a great deal of local interest and Leaman said that in May, 1998, the municipality handed in a proposal to run the CARS program.

The federal body responded to the hamlet's bid in July and came back to town to interview candidates for the position. By the end of August, seven residents of Resolute Bay were sent to Fort Smith for three months of training and on Nov. 28, five of them returned as successful graduates and began their on-the-job training.

"Four of the five of them were certified in the third week of December and we signed the contract (with NAV Canada) before Christmas and it officially began on Dec. 22," said Leaman. Two more candidates have since been sent to Fort Smith for training and once they're certified, the CARS program will employ a total of six people in permanent positions.

Jason Hennebury, the community's economic development officer, said the 14 per cent increase in the local employment rate was the main reason the hamlet doggedly pursued the contract.

"Other people at that meeting would have chosen people from outside of Resolute. This way, local people were hired and it brings a lot of money into the community," said Hennebury.

Leaman noted that in a community of 200 people, 60 or 70 of whom are capable of being in the workforce, six new jobs has a tremendous effect on the local economy.

"This amounts to payroll for this community of $300,000 a year. The NAV Canada people were all southerners and their paycheques were deposited in bank accounts in the south."

Lallie Idlout is one of those people who spends her CARS salary in the hamlet.

She said it was tough being away from her two-year-old daughter for three months, but she was happy to have the opportunity to do the job.

"It's pretty good. We have to do weather observations and we have to make decisions on what's happening," said Idlout, 22.

While the slow times of her job are hard to get through, she said it was exciting communicating with ground staff and the pilots and helping them negotiate their landings.

For Edwin Mullin, the job provided much-needed relief when funding for his position as the community's alcohol and drug counsellor was cut.

"The opportunity came up and I decided to give it a try. It was hard to be away for that length of time, but I managed."

The 46-year-old also said he liked the challenge of dealing with the pilots during the busy periods of air traffic.

"It could be stressful, but once you get settled, the jitters go away and you get more comfortable."