If we look at the different tiers of the bureaucracy in the Government of Nunavut, at the deputy minister level, at the senior bureaucrat level, we see that it's more or less representative now, because of a rather large push by the Government of Nunavut to have Inuit in deputy minister positions.
Once you get down into the middle management level, that's where we see a huge non-Inuit workforce. In large part, the Government of Nunavut's work is powered by the thought process of non-Inuit when it comes to that middle management level.
Also, when it comes down to the policy levels or the program coordinator levels, there is still an under-representation of Inuit.
Then at the secretarial level, or the administrative level, we see a large proportion of Inuit, which is at or just below a representational level.
So if you see the different tiers, you get a better sense of some of the challenges that Inuit come into contact with when trying to work for government.
Often supervisors do not speak Inuktitut. About 80% of the population speak Inuktitut as their mother tongue, so that's a huge barrier, first and foremost.
Then we get into the world view or the common vision of Nunavut and how to do work, and that creates another barrier. A number of people are grounded in a southern-based education and work experience when they arrive, and so I guess in a sense their vision is limited to the experience they've had in the south. They're thinking about a different type of workforce or a different vision for the territory, which is sometimes difficult, if not impossible, to articulate to non-Inuit staff.
We see it as a huge issue. We are trying to do what we can to ensure that there are more educated Inuit who are in positions of power within government.