Rankin Inlet (May 10/06) - There will be no express delivery of an Inuktitut-speaking employee at the Canada Post office in Rankin Inlet anytime soon.

Local area manager for Nunavut Peggy McLean says there hasn't been a vacant position at the Rankin office for almost three years.

She says there was no interest from Inuktitut-speaking residents the last time an opening was advertised in June of 2003.

"We posted the position at that time - which started as a casual position - and we didn't have anybody who spoke Inuktitut apply for the job. Not one," McLean says.

"We hired a gentleman who applied and we haven't had a vacancy there since.

"So, until a position becomes vacant or I'm told otherwise, there won't be any staffing changes."

McLean says Canada Post would prefer to have somebody at the office who speaks Inuktitut.

However, a position would have to become vacant for that to happen.

The Rankin office is fully staffed with three employees.

"The positions in Rankin are unionized, so letting someone go for the sole purpose of hiring someone who speaks Inuktitut is not an option.

"It's not that the corporation doesn't want to bring somebody in who speaks the language, but we can't just remove someone for no reason.

"As to why no Inuktitut-speaking residents applied for the job in 2003, I'm not in a position to comment on that because it would be pure speculation on my part.

"We advertised the position and hired the best applicant who came forward at the time."

Mayor Lorne Kusugak is fed up with the same answers he's been getting from Canada Post for years.

He says it's unbelievable that a Crown corporation operating in Rankin Inlet does not have a single Inuktitut-speaking employee.

"This is not funny anymore, if it was ever funny to begin with," Kusugak says.

"We have elders and other unilingual people in this community who deserve to be able to conduct business in their own language.

"Not only do they have that right, but Inuktitut is an official language here.

"I would like to know the legalities of a Crown corporation conducting business in a community where it cannot provide service in the primary language spoken, and an official language of Nunavut."

Kusugak says he'd like to know how Canada Post advertises vacant positions, when no Inuktitut-speaking residents apply for the jobs.

He says there must be a reason why people in the community aren't interested in what appears to be a lucrative position.

"We're talking about a position with a competitive starting salary, more than reasonable job security and a quite attractive benefits package.

"They're (Canada Post) telling me there's nobody in this community interested in a position like that?

"With so many people here looking for work, what's wrong with this picture?"

McLean won't comment any further on past applicants, other than to say there's certain criteria that must be met when applying to Canada Post.

She says it's standard policy for the corporation to run a criminal record check.

"We don't deal with criminal record checks at the local level.

"That's done between our human-resource and corporate-security departments.

"They review the applications, but I can't give you any particulars.

"I'm not comfortable commenting on that procedure other than to say they are reviewed."

McLean, who is based in Iqaluit, says she has not received any complaints on the language issue in Rankin.

Nor, she says, has anyone called on an elder or unilingual person's behalf.

"Now, granted, it could be difficult for someone who doesn't speak English to phone and complain, but the two ladies we have at the office have been in the community for quite some time.

"It's not an ideal situation, but it's a busy office with lots of people coming and going, so we've managed.

"If there's someone in the office who doesn't speak English, one of our two employees will ask another customer for help translating, but, generally, we haven't run into any problems.

"We want our customers to be happy and this situation is certainly on our radar screen, but there's nothing we can do to address it at this time."