Yellowknife (May 10/06) - A new nurse is in charge in the North.

Steven Leck was appointed president of the Registered Nurses Association of the NWT and Nunavut (RNANT/NU) last week in Yellowknife.

The Pond Inlet resident brings 20 years of experience to the job, 16 of which have been spent in several communities in the Baffin region and one community in the Western Arctic. On May 4, during the association's annual general meeting, Leck was elected for the voluntary two-year term. New president-elect Christy Russell will take over in two years.

"I was asked by the board to sit as president-elect, which I did for a year prior to coming on as president," said Leck.

One of the ways Leck is looking to change things is to listen to the membership and hold board meetings to determine the direction the association wants to go.

Leck said there is also a strategic plan where they are going to be looking at things like lobbying the governments for chief nursing officer positions for both territories.

"We are also going to be looking at having the respect for nurses in the forefront of the publics view," he said.

There are many issues that Northern nurses face - such as dealing with two governments and trying to ensure that nursing has a voice at the table whenever a health care or public issue is brought forward.

"We have to be able to talk about issues locally. We have to be able to talk about territorial issues," said Leck, during a two-day biennial program workshop at the Capitol Theatre in Yellowknife, held May 4 and 5.

The focus of the workshop was leadership that drives commitment, said speaker and facilitator Laura Horrigan.

The workshop is looking at transforming the organization to today's way of functioning, allowing people to take leadership roles, said Horrigan.

It is important to produce change in the health care profession to move things forward, she said.

Dr. Deborah Tamyln, president of the Canadian Nurses Association, attended the workshop.

She commended Northern nurses for taking on the role and the leadership they are called upon to provide.

She said that it sets the example for what nurses in the south are striving for.

"There is a lot we can learn," she said.