Company wants more Inuit in senior management roles
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 08/01) - A major retailer in Nunavut is shopping for senior management among its Inuit staff.
The North West Company, which owns the Northern and NorthMart stores, and Kakivak, the community economic development arm of the Baffin's Qikiqtani Inuit Association, recently completed a training course designed to get Inuit into more senior management roles.
"The candidates (who took a recent course in Iqaluit) are supervisors and all have the potential to be store managers in their communities," said Todd Nadeau, human resources manager for the North West Company.
The goal is for the 12 participants to take further training courses or participate in a mentoring program, and then take over store management positions as they become available.
Looie Veevee, who works at the Pangnirtung Northern Store, is among those who want to move to the next level. Those taking the management course are all from Baffin communities.
"I was interested in a (senior) management position," said Veevee, a retail supervisor who took the training course in Iqaluit recently. "It's the next goal."
Veevee, who started as a grocery cashier, has been with the Northern Store in Pangnirtung for 17 years.
Nadeau adds the North West Company has always looked for aboriginal management. But this is the first time it has partnered with an organization (Kakivak) to meet that goal.
Leonie Qaumariaq, the manager of Kakivak's Apqut training and employment department, said the senior management training program is the kind of long-term training commitment Kakivak is looking for.
The North West Company plans at least one more management course in Nunavut this year. It has 170 stores in Northern Canada and rural Alaska. About 2,300, or 53 per cent, of its staff are aboriginal.
