Deputy ministers spend a month in communities
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (May 21/01) - When Anne Crawford finishes work today, instead of driving home to Apex, she'll head to Pangnirtung.
The Baffin hamlet will be home for the deputy minister of the department of the executive for the Government of Nunavut for the next four weeks.
It's part of an initiative developed by Premier Paul Okalik to give deputy ministers a better idea of what it's like to live outside of Iqaluit and give them a better understanding of the impact of decentralization.
"It creates long-term connections," said Crawford.
"You get to know people. You learn about other communities. It really develops a good feel for what's going on in Iqaluit and in the communities."
Along with enrolling her children in new schools in the middle of the academic year, Crawford had to deal with the difficulties of getting her phone and water hooked up.
"There was no water last night because we had to go to the hamlet office and get signed up," said Crawford.
Community Government and Transportation Deputy Minister Mike Ferris left today for a four-week stint in Cape Dorset.
It's a reunion trip of sorts for Ferris, who spent some of his 23 years in the North in Cape Dorset.
He'll also help out as a minister at the Anglican Church while he's there.
Social activities aside, Ferris said the trip would allow him to get the regional division of his department up and running and would also improve his Inuktitut skills.
Participants in the program take four hours of Inuktitut language training during the four-week sessions.
Not everyone sees the venture as useful.
"I'm not sure I see a lot of merit in what they're doing," said Louis Primeau, the senior administrator at the hamlet office in Taloyoak.
He said deputy ministers must already be good managers to be qualified for their jobs and called the idea was more about public relations than cultural sensitivity.
"The exercise is a waste of government and taxpayers' money," he said.
Each department will pick up the tab for moving its deputy minister.
Baker Lake MLA Glenn McLean doesn't agree with Primeau's views
He said the four weeks will give bureaucrats a better idea of life in smaller communities.
"Sometimes they lose touch with what's happening," said McLean.
The current round of visits are scheduled to wrap up by the end of the summer.
While they will provide some insight into life in the communities, what they won't do -- at least during the first round -- is make the DMs familiar with life in the communities not slated for more jobs, services and additional infrastructure that comes with decentralization.
That angers Grise Fiord resident Marty Kuluguqtuq.
"The idea should be to help out the have-not communities. Once again, we feel like we're being neglected," said Kuluguqtuq.
"If I saw a deputy minister ... I would ask them when they're coming over and when we're going to start being paid attention to."
Crawford and Ferris both said the program may be expanded to include trips to non-decentralized communities and assistant deputy ministers.
