Thorunn Howatt
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 06/01) - There are a few changes going on at the Workers' Compensation Board for the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The organization had an overhaul.

"It really was a result of the signing off of the shared services agreement with Nunavut," said WCB president Penny Ballantyne, explaining that up until this year the WCB hadn't decided to split into two entities when Nunavut split from the NWT. But now one board will cover both territories.

"As a result of that it becomes a lot more imperative to build the capacity in Nunavut to build programs for Nunavut in Nunavut."

The WCB had only a very small office in Iqaluit before restructuring, but now a lot of the work done in Yellowknife is being moved to Nunavut.

"We'll have about 20 staff over there," said Ballantyne.

The blueprint for staff restructuring was laid out last autumn. Vacant staff positions weren't filled and plans were made to prepare for the right

mix of Nunavut and NWT people. Some duties were added, some removed. Some WCB employees' jobs were completely changed and some eliminated altogether.

"We were able to place all of our staff internally except one person," said Ballantyne, who became president at the beginning of this year.

The WCB has 120 employees -- 20 in Iqaluit with the bulk in NWT. It also has an office in Inuvik and Rankin Inlet.

Keeping employers' rates low is a challenge for the new WCB.

"One of our strategic goals is to make sure we are always one of the lowest three in Canada and right now we are the lowest," she said.

The NWT and Nunavut's economies are hot, with mining, oil and gas creating jobs and income. But industry is an incubator for workplace injuries. The new WCB will have its work cut out for it keeping up with the changes.

"One of the areas we are trying to do some advanced planning in right now is around oil and gas. If a pipeline came, we need to be ready," said Ballantyne.