FORT MCPHERSON - The Fort McPherson Tent and Canvas Shop has been a fixture in the community for years. Some of its board members have also been on the board for years, but that will now become more rare.

The Fort McPherson Tent and Canvas shop employs 15 people in the community. The factory was overseen by a board of nine people. That number has now been changed to five, through a restructuring program by the NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC) of which the canvas shop is a subsidiary. - NNSL file photo

A new restructuring plan from the NWT Business Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC), which owns the shop, has led to the removal of three of four local board members.

"I guess maybe they felt it was time for a change," said Taig Connell, president of the board up until June 22.

The changes affect all six of the BDIC's subsidiary companies.

The canvas shop board members are not impressed, said Connell, who was on the board for 14 years.

Hazel Nerysoo, who has 16 years on the board, was also removed last week.

Change is good, she said, "but I think we should have resolved our issues first."

There has been some dissension over the shop manager's salary between the shop board and the BDIC. It should have been worked out, she said.

"It seems that because we're not going in their favour this is one way to get rid of us," said Nerysoo.

Pawan Chugh, chief executive officer of the BDIC, said that he was concerned that the restructuring would be perceived as such.

The changes to the corporation's six boards was part of a plan to restructure the entire BDIC, and has nothing to do with individual boards, he said.

Some issues with the local boards came up at meetings the BDIC held with them, said Chugh, and the corporation tried to address them in the general restructuring.

"We were running into quorum problems," with the board meetings, he said, and sometimes meetings were not being held for years because the minimum required number of members could not be reached in the small communities.

"We came in and said 'let's look at the governance, let's improve the structure," said Chugh.

Now each board, which oversees management and operations of the subsidiary businesses, will have five members - three from the BDIC, and two local.

Nerysoo is not impressed with the idea.

"They need a local board here in the community, not somebody from miles away," she said.

Chugh said the rationale behind the three two ratio was that some of the local board members had not been reliable when it came to calling board meetings and sometimes a year would go by without a meeting.

Three of the members could in fact be local, he said, as the BDIC also has regional employees across the NWT.

The board members who were removed are not barred from returning to the board, said Chugh.

They can apply for the positions again, he said, only now they will have to apply after every three-year term they serve.

That's not enough to appease Connell. "It's happening too fast," he said, "and without any consultation at the local level."

The third local member removed, Robert Alexie Sr., echoed that with a brief comment. "I'm out," he said, "I don't know what's going on."