Three decades around the territory
Longtime GNWT employee retires after 36 years and numerous community visits
Elaine Anselmi
Northern News Services
Monday, October 19, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
With 36 years in the public sector wrapping up on Nov. 4, John Colford says perhaps his most formative role was as economic development officer for Aklavik in 1982.
After 36 years working for the GNWT, John Colford is transitioning happily into retirement. - Elaine Anselmi/NNSL photo |
"That's when the most dramatic change happened in terms of my life and career," said Colford.
"I was born and raised in Montreal and for somebody coming out of Montreal, all of a sudden to find themselves living and working in the community of Aklavik, it was a night and day conversion."
While there, he recalls being invited to a hunters and trappers association meeting - which he said was more of a social gathering than formal meeting - where the members brought up a man in the community who was going through a hard time and having trouble feeding his family.
"The guys discussed this around the table a bit and the decision was, I can't remember who came up with it, but they said, 'Let's just get him a net, take it over to his house and get him a net,'" Colford said.
"Being a government employee, I thought, 'Can't we do more than that, can't we give him money?' And they turned and looked at me and said, 'He doesn't need money, he needs tools. He needs to get out and harvest for his family.'"
This demonstration of the old adage, "If you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day," is something Colford says was the perfectly eloquent solution to what the group saw as a problem.
"That stuck out for me," he said.
"It was the simplicity of it all - we don't need to launch rockets to the moon to figure this out."
In his career, Colford has held many titles with the GNWT, eventually moving from Aklavik to Inuvik and later to Yellowknife.
He retired as the manager of traditional economy, agriculture and fisheries under the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) earlier this month.
In this role, the concept of giving people the tools to further themselves stayed with Colford. From the Genuine Mackenzie Valley Fur Program supporting trappers, to the Small Scale Foods Program that promotes agriculture in communities, Colford credits the team he has worked with at ITI for making significant contributions to putting power in the hands of community members.
And through his role, Colford says he's had the opportunity to visit nearly every one of those communities - including the eastern Arctic, before Nunavut became a separate territory.
"If you stick around for 36 years, you get around quite a bit," said Colford.
"Whenever you travel in a small communities it's the same, you go in to those communities with an agenda, and everything changes when you get there and you come out a better person, with better ideas and better grasp of reality."
Colford's longstanding service to the government and communities hasn't gone unnoticed. ITI deputy minister Peter Vician recognized his innovation, dedication and success at a retirement celebration in September.
"John, thank you for being an inspiration, a friendly face, and a source of knowledge for the GNWT all these years," Vician said. "You have never shied away from keeping folks on their toes and shaking things up a bit. You have been an integral contributor to the successes we have achieved at ITI. Thank you John, I wish you the very best in your retirement and the new adventures that come with it."
