Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Pelly Bay (Sep 16/02) - Inuit beneficiaries will see more visits from NTI president Cathy Towtongie over the next fiscal year.

The NTI board of directors is recommending its membership adopt a proposed budget that increased Towtongie's expenses by more than 30 per cent, from $617,530 to $811,739.

The increase will allow her to travel into the communities more often to visit with beneficiaries and discuss their concerns, and also permit her to attend more Inuit Circumpolar Conference meetings.

"We may not be able to help them in the immediate present, but over and over we have been asked to go into the communities because we are elected Inuit individuals. We are an Inuit organization and often they don't have anyone else to turn to," said Towtongie after the budget resolution passed.

"I want to see them face to face and talk to them about issues that are their priorities and that are their concerns."

Towtongie said she wants to implement an internal monitoring system to see how Inuit are benefiting from the Land Claims Agreement. Beneficiary consultation is her key priority for the upcoming 2003-04 fiscal year.

Half of the presidential budget increase will pay for the transfer of the executive liaison position from the CEO's office. Another $30,000 has been set aside for the NTI 10th anniversary celebrations next year.

In total, NTI's proposed budget for the next fiscal year has increased by about $1.5 million dollars to $18.4 million. Much of that is due to a 75 per cent hike in economic development spending, from $776,000 to $1.2 million.

Staff movements

Certain departments will see a decrease and others have increased significantly from the previous year. Finance advisers explained to board members that the fluctuations are a result of moving staff around to different departments to make operations run more smoothly.

Paul Kaludjak, NTI's vice-president of finance, said the budget keeps with the guidelines of the strategic financial plan, allowing for a three per cent spending increase.

Kaludjak said his original plan was that there would be no increase, but realized that goal was "impossible to do" after consultations with the finance department and the regional Inuit associations.

"We understand that the (RIAs) are growing and that they would need more funding each year, but of course we have to live with the constraints on the budget and they understand that too," he said.

The budget also provides each department with $3,000 per employee for professional development.

"Especially when our beneficiaries become an employee of NTI, we need to develop their skills professionally to achieve new heights within the organization," said Kaludjak.

The strategic plan, which acted as a guide for the 2003-04 budget, was designed to help NTI meet the goal of having almost $1.5 billion in the Nunavut Trust by the end of the 2007 fiscal year.